Redemption
by Spirit of the Moon
Summary: When a mission takes the lives of all but one of the Tantei, the circumstances concerning Yusuke's first mission are revealed. Not all is what it seems. Especially when Hiei's past comes into question and the Tantei return. KH shounen ai yaoi HAITUS
1. Prologue

A prologue to the story my mind won't let me not write. It's been stuck in my head for days and I had to write it down and now that I have this I think I'm going to continue. Whether or not I post the rest and this stays up is if you the reader's like it!!

Two Years Before Urameshi Yusuke's First Death

He ran. Ran and ran, his days and hours had run together and he knew no longer how long he had been running. Each breath was drawn shakily from his burning lungs and his legs ached, more so from the many cuts and bruises that now adorned him then from his panicked running. His shoulder had been torn open a night before, and it hurt now with infection. But he could still hear them, he couldn't stop running. Not now, not yet. His mind ran in circles with its lack of oxygen, unable to think of more then putting one damn foot in front of the other equally damned one.

A branch broke. He jumped. He drew a breath filled with tears he was unwilling to shed. Fear fueled his battered and worn body, urging it to move faster to out last those behind his frail form. He shivered. His ki was too low to help and the air around was cold with the damp night. He cast his gaze around, cursing when he realized what he searched in vain for. His companion had been lost days ago, no doubt now festering some where. A single tear, against his will slide down his check, running passed his mark. He brought a hand up to shakily wipe it away. Distractions would leave him no better off then his companion.

The mark, the reason he ran. He had to run, to get away. He himself was worthless, but the rest marked as he, were not. Not in this life, not in this world. Would his actions now redeem all he had done before? Oh how by the world above he hoped and wished that it could be. He ran and kept running. A branch left a cut on his check. _I bleed just to know I'm alive._ He ran in the cover of darkness, in the cover of trees, impairing his sight. _I can't let the world see me, they wouldn't understand. Please oh please! Let this be the redemption I can seek in this life. _

Shouts echoed in the branches above. Adrenaline pumped. He knew the voice but not the words they spoke. He spoke very little for the years he had lived and could barely recognise the sound of his own voice. And no one understood him, as he didn't understand them. But those voices he knew, they had tortured him for years in some of the cruelest ways the mind could figure. He turned his head. A crevice was in the rocks to his right. He could fit through that. A perk of being short and skinny as hell. Those who chased wouldn't have that perk. They were big and heavy, some with fat other with muscle that could act as armor.

The rock took skin from his already torn body. He knew the moment when his followers hit the rocks. They screamed and howled at the loss of their prey. He continued to run, he was not free yet. _Voices!!!_ He skidded to a halt. These voices were not ones he was familiar with, and while they did not sound friendly, they were not filled with malice. He parted leaves and branches to see who stood before him, in a clearing where many would not be safe in this area. _Reikai………What are they doing?_ Again he didn't understand the language used but they looked worried. Some argued. _Are they looking for someone? Could they be working for _them_? How would they be able to get people from the Reikai on their pay? ………I don't want to die…_ A growl filled the air. His eyes widened. _ It can't be!!! Oh please, how many jokes can this living realm play on one person?_

An animal burst through the foliage from the other side. It howled with pain, he could see the arrow stuck in one side. Before his oxygen and sleep deprived brain could react to the situation, his body had; jumping out and screaming to the animal.

"Stop!!! Please don't die and leave me!" he shouted to his companion, who he had thought dead. His companion stopped its thrashing and shrunk in size. He grabbed it pulling it tight to his body. Pulling out the arrow his companion hissed. He clutched the bundle of brown fur to him as it attempted to lick his face. The Reikai, guards he now realized, circled around them. They spoke, voices harsh. He shouted but knew they wouldn't understand. No one understood him but the fur piled in his arms wheezing.

"Stop!!!" He jumped; he did know that word, or rather what happened when those sounds were put together. A teenaged man walked into the clearing. He looked at the guards with disapproval. He spoke as though he was ordering they and they backed off. He approached the shaking figure and bundle of fluff still trying to lick him. When the regal looking man was closer, the boy bowed the best he could from his knees and shouted. His only hope was that it wouldn't get him killed. He knew what he looked like; he was unclean, covered in dirt and blood. His grey clothes too big and ripped cover in dirt and blood as well as leaves and the odd rock. And while he hated the idea of appearing submissive to anyone who seemed to hold authority or more power then him, his life was more important. His information was too; perhaps it would buy him a chance. He looked up; the man was confused, and turned to one of the guards. The boy got ready to run when the teenager spoke only one word. The only other he knew.

"Translator."

People will kill me for later chapters but for now what do you think? BTW this is not an OC in this chapter.


	2. World Comes Crashing Down

**KyoHana**: Thank you! You made my day with that review, I wasn't sure anyone would want to read my story. I have a couple others and I don't think anyone really reads them. Oh well, thanks for letting me know I should continue this!

Redemption

_World comes crashing down…now if that isn't an interesting phrase you people have come up with. But appropriate none the less on some occasions. One night you fall asleep, you can have the one you love beside you, the one person in this world you can trust with your life, and more importantly with you heart. The one person you can lift you heart up to and show where it bleeds and where the world has left its cruel mark. Show the bruises you can't heal alone. The next night though, it can all be gone. Thinking back, I should've known that something was going to happen. But I was happy, I was content and I'm not familiar with these feelings. It was like a cut off switch between my head and my instincts I didn't know about…no one can take back time, it's like an hour glass glued to a table, you can't flip it back over and regain your precious time back. Because everything becomes precious when the_….

Chapter 1; World Comes Crashing Down

The moon was bright, almost full. It shone down on the many people who still walked in the crisp spring time air. Soon those people would be inside for the night, but for now they walked content. Some with family, others alone, and those happy few who walked with the one they loved. Smells drifted from restaurants as the doors opened and closed, teasing those hungry and heading home. The cars that drove passed were for once few, leaving nothing to break the tranquil scene. And for once a pair of crimson eyes watched the sight, taking it all in. Eyes half closed as though there was more to be seen out the window when they were not opened fully.

Black hair matted against his face as he leaned upon the window pane. A smile tugged at his lips for reasons he couldn't comprehend at that moment. His pale skin was illuminated by one small lamp beside one of two beds, his black clothing doing nothing to change the look of death he had for his pale pallor. He closed his eyes after a while, leaning back against the window frame. The image below, though it was of ningens, was etched for the moment in his head. He took a deep breath and let it out, blowing some of his black bangs from his face. He didn't know why he felt so good at the moment and for a second it disturbed him, until he wrote it off – for once – as being somewhat glad that the latest mission for the Reikai Tantei had finally ended.

Jaganshi Hiei didn't so much as twitch when the carrot topped boy he'd continuously called "oaf" tripped in the hall, blaming it seconds later on the black haired "detective" and leader who laughed it off. His mind was abnormally peaceful for once and if it had not been for the interruption seconds later, Hiei would've realized the last time he had felt so calm……and the consequences of what had happened next. A purple glow emanated from under his white bandana, the Jagan reacting to the presence nearing the door.

Emerald eyes also took in the scene of the spring night, as a red headed boy walked down the hall. His long flaming locks garnered stares, just as much as it got him mistaken for a woman. He smiled politely at the few people who nodded to acknowledge him as he walked. Minamino Shuichi – otherwise known as Kurama to a select few – chuckled as he watch the orange haired Kuwabara Kazuma and the black haired Urameshi Yusuke argue a little, possibly over the fact that both appeared to be searching for the key to their room. He opened his own door as they managed to find the key – having been in Yusuke's pocket the whole time – and bade them good night. He smiled somewhat slyly seeing the relaxed hiyoukai in the window sill.

Hiei sat up and turned towards his youko turned human ally before even opening his eyes. Kurama smiled, walking over to the bed stand and switching on the other light.

"Really Hiei, must you sit in the dark up here? I left not more then five minutes ago with the lights on and come back to find all but one off!"

"I wanted you to be able to see when you got back in here; otherwise they would have all been off. And you were gone longer then five minutes, Fox," Hiei gave as a curt answer. Kurama smiled sheepishly, looking at the clock now to see that the small demon was right.

"Gomen Hiei, I must have taken a longer walk then I thought. Your wo-"

"You get the gash on your chest patched up?"

"Yes I did. Arigatou, Hiei for asking," Kurama whispered. Hiei didn't respond, just turned to look out the window. They stayed silent for a while, Kurama moving around behind Hiei, who was once again lost in the outside world.

Kurama's hand eventually ended up on Hiei's shoulder. Hiei turned to face him, annoyance spilling onto his childish features. Kurama just smiled.

"What is it Fox?" Kurama didn't answer, instead opting to lower his head to press against Hiei's soft lips in a feather light touch.

The annoyance left his face, replaced instead by a look not many would be able to recognise. A bit of happiness, love, and longing all mixed together, but sadness….sadness was also present. Kurama pulled back placing another soft touch over the warded Jagan before moving back to the beds. Hiei slid from the windowsill, reaching forward to – in a most gentle gesture – link his fingers with that of the Kitsune's. Kurama turned back.

"Yes Hiei?" he asked shortly before soft, full lips pressed onto his own, somewhat shyly but eager. The red head smiled into the kiss before taking over, leaving the fire youkai utterly pleased. Kurama pulled back far sooner then for Hiei's liking, as he whimpered at the lost of contact. He hated when Kurama just stopped a kiss without making it any deeper, any more passionate. The Kitsune chuckled at Hiei's reaction to the end of their kiss, well aware that Hiei disliked it.

"You know we shouldn't do anymore Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara are next door after all. And there are a lot more people here then you seem to think."

"So?" was his annoyed answer.

"Heh, heh Hiei you remember our agreement! No more then a kiss on missions, wasn't it you who didn't want Yusuke and Kuwabara to know?" Hiei turned away, muttering about not agreeing to any such thing, before sitting down on the bed. Kurama sighed at Hiei's actions, sitting down beside him before pulling the young youkai into his arms. Hiei slowly put his own arms around his fox, able to smell the plant concoctions and blood from Kurama's wound. Out of all of them, Kurama had been hurt the worst on their latest mission. It was deep and though he was loath to admit it even to his lover, he was worried. Kurama suddenly turned, laying back and bringing Hiei to rest on top of him.

"Baka Kitsune! Your wound!" Hiei yelped, surprised by Kurama's sudden actions. Kurama chuckled, knowing that Hiei had no reason to worry.

"Relax, Hiei! My wound isn't as bad as everyone thinks. I'll be fine, besides your not heavy so you're not really disturbing me or anything at all." Hiei narrowed his eyes, swearing that he'd heard some sort of insult with in Kurama's well meaning reassurance. Finally, shaking his head at the obvious disregard of his Kitsune lover for his own wounds, he rested his head lightly on Kurama's chest. They stayed like that for a little while, until Hiei – still annoyed by the bed stand lights – turned his head towards them, half glaring at the inanimate objects. Kurama rolled his eyes, unseen by his fiery companion.

"Really Hiei if you dislike the lights on so much why don't you turn them off?" Hiei grumbled something into Kurama's chest. The Fox-human sighed.

"Koi, I can't hear you when you talk _into_ my chest. Speak up," he requested of the young demon. Hiei begrudgingly lifted his face from Kurama's shirt and spoke again, but still too quietly for him to hear.

"One more time love?"

"You want it on," Hiei mumbled. Kurama blinked a few times, running the half Koorime's answer through his head over again to be sure he'd heard right.

"You leave it one because of me? When has that ever stopped you before? But thank you for thinking of me, Koibito," Kurama whispered. Hiei muttered something else to himself before turning his head to the other side, staring out the window where the moon still shined.

Hiei blinked in confusion when the room became dark seconds later. Kurama returned his arms to their former position around Hiei, smiling when Hiei turned to look him in the eye.

"You're welcome," Kurama whispered. Hiei smirked, putting his head back down and staring out the window, the moon the only source of light in the room now. Once more they were still on their room, minutes passing in a silence neither wanted to break yet. Slowly Kurama brought his hand up to Hiei's head, lazily beginning to run his finger's though Hiei's soft ebony spikes. When he had first touched Hiei's hair, he'd been surprised to find it amazingly soft and untangled. He took a deep breath, steadying himself for his next words.

"Hiei?"

"Hnnmm?" was his almost lazy and indecipherable reply.

"I wasn't going to bring this up until we got home tomorrow but I can't wait. I just need to do this now," Kurama started. Hiei froze, hardly breathing. _Oh Gods! I knew this would happen! He's gotten tired of me! Damnitt, how stupid was I to get into this! What was I really expecting to happen with the infamous Yoko Kurama as a lover!_

"Hiei?" _Damnitt! Here it comes!_ Hiei thought, insides twisting and turning to ice. He was ready to bolt when Kurama spoke next.

"Will you mate with me?" Hiei blinked twice.

"W-w-what?"

"I know I should've waited until we were in a place where we wouldn't have to wait but, I, I've wanted to ask you for a few weeks now and well, I-" Kurama stopped his rambling as Hiei sat up, refusing to meet the red head's gaze. Kurama filled with sadness and an apology formed on his lips, but Hiei stopped him. He was chuckling. He lifted his head to stare with crimson orbs into the startled and somewhat hurt emerald ones. His relief flooded to every fiber of his being becoming a laugh on his lips. The longer he sat there staring at the fox, no his - _definitely_ his – fox, the more he laughed. Shakily he nodded and with each second his nods increased in enthusiasm and pace.

Happiness flooded onto Hiei's features and Kurama suddenly understood, but he had to be sure.

"Is this a yes? Are you saying yes!" Hiei laughed harder still nodding, throwing himself back towards the red head clinging to him in relief and happiness. Kurama also smiled beginning to laugh along side his soon to be mate.

Sukuu

The happiness and elation of the night before dissipated from the two lovers by the time the sun had set the next day. Yusuke and Kuwabara slept in, which wouldn't have been too terrible; if it hadn't been until noon. Neither Hiei nor Kurama could wake them and breaking down/ picking the lock on the door was out of the question; too many people walked passed them as they tried to rouse their sleeping team mates, already annoying the staff at the small somewhat run down hotel they had stayed at. When they had woken up, the shock of over sleeping didn't out weigh their apparent need to eat at _that_ precise moment, all thoughts of finding a way back to their homes forgotten for the moment. Filling their stomachs was not going to solve their problem of finding a way home. Koenma was of no help, they hadn't heard from him since they had reported the completion of their mission.

After a time, they had ended up standing in front of the hotel, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama trying to sort out how to get home without making anyone they knew wonder how they had gotten two hours or more a way. Hiei stayed out of it of course, he had no way to help, had no suggestion on how to get anywhere in this ningen world. But he did stand abnormally close to Kurama not really caring if the other's notice his close proximity to the reformed thief. Eventually, though not all were exactly sure how, they ended up in the car of a man Kuwabara had actually met somewhere before. And while Hiei wasn't sure that they could trust this man on just Kuwabara's word – which riled Kuwabara – the rest eventually convince the stubborn hiyoukai to get into the unfamiliar

human contraption.

So now they were on their way back, two hours at the most from the familiar comforts of home. Hiei stared out the window watching the scenery pass or what he could make out of the almost inky blackness. By the time they had been offered the ride the sun had been setting and now they drove with minimal light, the moon covered by clouds in the night sky. Kuwabara sat in the front speaking to the driver, Yusuke was behind him listening to the conversation and interjecting every so often, and Kurama sat between Hiei and Yusuke, leaving Hiei behind the driver.

The next moments would never really be clear to anyone, not even the Reikai would fully figure out the events that took place. One moment Kurama was tapping Hiei's shoulder, probably just to get his attention, the next….the next……… Hiei turned to look into his companions deep emerald orbs, about to speak when Yusuke suddenly spoke up.

"Oh god!" the black haired youth bellowed. Hiei tore his gaze from Kurama to look out the side window, as did everyone but the driver. A bright light flashed into their eyes, Kuwabara yelled something lost in the screech of tires. Hiei sat confused, unsure what exactly was going on. Kurama put an arm around him, his eyes widening. The next moments were filled with screeches and the twisting sounds of metal slapping together and moving in unnatural ways. The groan of iron filled their ears and the crash of shattering glass. Everything went blank then.

Sukuu

A squirrel blinked its black eyes languidly. Its little nose twitched with the new smells that reeked in the air. It had been asleep, until its tree shook violently; rousing it and sending it scurrying to the branches where it now sat. It stared down at the twisted metal below its nest, smoke curling from it. Squealing caused the already panicked animal to jump, in time to watch blinding lights leave.

Hiei forced his eyes to open, to rid himself of the warm cloak unconsciousness had draped around him he was loathed to leave. But he had to, for the life of him he didn't know what had happened. The crashing sounds still burned in his ears as he tried, in vain, to remember the full details of the last few seconds before unconsciousness had welcomed him with open arms. Even with his blood red eyes open, the scene before him made little sense as his scrambled mind tried to right itself. But his mind did register one thing, the scent of blood, a metallic tang he was all too familiar with for his lifetime. But why was there so much of it? He could feel it dripping onto his hand. _Am I bleeding?_

His eyes widened when the objects before him came into focus. The human vehicle was a wreck. Literally. The car was a wreck now on the side of the road. He gagged on the blood mixed with other unsavory smells. Glass covered him, the windshield broken; only bits remained where it had been originally placed. Hiei leaned his head on the rear window, unbroken from the crash. His head ached and so did other parts of his body. It seemed that even though he could see properly again his mind still wasn't working at top speed, giving him only a vague idea on where the pain was from. After a moment he leaned forward, placing his upper body between the two front seats. He turned to the passenger seat, and couldn't stop the sudden intake of breath.

Kuwabara's head leaned towards him, blood pooled around him, darkening his face. Glass shards were all around him, imbedded in flesh and in his clothing. Hiei reached hesitantly forward. There was no pulse, none to be found in Kuwabara's pale lacerated neck. _He's……He's…dead…? _Realisation crept over him. Kuwabara was dead in the seat before him, where only minutes – or had it been hours? – before he'd been breathing and talking to the driver. Hiei turned to the driver, but found no one in the front seat. Glass littered the seat, the air bag hanging out of the steering wheel.

He turned his shaky red gaze to the windshield again, seeing that easily the man could've gone straight out of it, especially from the impact of a tree which crushed the front of the car. The passenger side of the front had taken the most damage from the hard trunk of the old tree. _The ningen who was driving is dead……he must be…and so is Kuwabara……Yusuke? Kurama…Fox!_ Panic gripped him for a second. _Most of the damage is to the front,_ he reminded himself as he was forced to sit back,_ If I'm alright shouldn't they be? Kuwabara was human, but Yusuke and Kurama should've handled this better then him……_ He began to move, painfully towards Yusuke and Kurama first reaching for Yusuke before all strength left him. A hand stopped him.

He turned, able to see dimly his lover smiling softly. Kurama shook his head. Hiei blinked, looking back to Yusuke.

"He's still alive," Kurama whispered hoarsely, "but his breathing is slowing. I don't think he'll wake up before he's gone. We were hit in the side." Kurama looked to the front.

"The oaf….Kuwabara is dead. The other one isn't in here, he's probably dead too," Hiei whispered answering Kurama's unspoken question. Hiei leaned back into his seat, his small frame beginning to hurt more. They stayed quiet for a few moments, each to his own thoughts. Finally Hiei turned to Kurama again.

"Think you can move?"

"We shouldn't," was his answer.

"We can't just sit here, Kurama. Kuwabara is dead, and Yusuke is dying." _Even though there is nothing we can do for either of them, we shouldn't just sit here._ Kurama didn't answer him. Hiei sat patiently for a while. He'd learned a long time ago that sometimes you had to wait for Kurama to give his reasons for things. But Kurama wasn't answering him. Blood fell onto Hiei's hand again.

Hiei's eyes widened. He turned to Kurama, whose eyes were closed peacefully. Hiei's breath caught in his throat.

"Kurama?" he started, fear filling him as he inched closer to his companion. A smiled formed on Kurama's lips as he turned his head slowly to Hiei.

"Hai?" he murmured. Relief flooded Hiei. For a second he'd thought Kurama was dead. He certainly hadn't liked that thought. Kurama gave the half-Koorime a sad look.

"Hiei?" Hiei turned to him, giving his fox a small shaky smile in an attempt to cheer the youko up.

"Gomen Nasi, koishii," the fox human whispered, pained as he turned to face the black haired youkai. Breath caught in Hiei's throat again.

His fox was covered in blood down his front. Blood seeped and soaked into every wrinkle in Kurama's clothing. Hiei just stared, unable to take his gaze from Kurama.

"Your wound! It opened! Damnitt, why didn't you say anything before?" Hiei demanded, leaping up in the wreck of a car and undoing Kurama's shirt. He stared at the gaping wound that hadn't had enough time to heal. It bled profusely. Fear crept into his voice as he spoke.

"You're not dying," he stated, unbelievable with the fear that coated each word. But he had to say it, he needed to say it. His fox wasn't dying, no if's, and's, or but's about it. Kurama's eyes only got sadder, and much to Hiei's pain the Kitsune didn't say anything. Not one "Of course I'm not dying," or "I've lost blood but it won't kill me," or any other reassurance Hiei suddenly craved. He was so used to Kurama telling him he was fine, even when his wounds were worse then he was letting on. But Kurama did none of that.

"I'm so sorry, koishii," he whispered again. Hiei shook his head. His friend, he lover, his…his …mate was not dying! He wouldn't accept that.

"You are not dying! There's got to be something we can do! A doc-….A human healer! Anything!" Kurama grabbed Hiei's hand.

"We wouldn't get anywhere in time, Hiei. I'm going to die." Hiei's eyes brightened. His lover wouldn't die! Yoko would take control and Hiei wouldn't be alone. His mate couldn't die.

"Then you'll just become Yoko! We can go back to the Makai; we can forget this miserable human world." Kurama smiled sadly again. The little hope that had flooded him in remembering the youko soul within the human body disappeared.

"Yoko won't come out, will he?" Hiei whispered reading his mate's expressive face.

"No, no he won't," Kurama admitted.

"…….why……?"

"I'm not completely sure. Koenma told me a few weeks ago. He thought it might've had to do with the Fruit of the Past Life that I used to revert to my Youko form. If this hadn't happened, time would've reversed it. Yoko would've been able to come out at the end of my human lifespan." Hiei sat back, taking the information in. It was too much in the wake of Kurama's proposal. His composure cracked.

Kurama jumped as Hiei started almost hyperventilating.

"Hiei! Are you alright? Hiei!" Hiei turned to him, emotions in full fury on his face. He looked at Kurama as though he'd grown another head.

"Do I look okay! You are dying! Everyone else is dead in here, and I'm losing you!" Hiei all but screamed, beginning to really give into the raging emotions across his body. No one was around to hear this, to see it. Why bother hiding? Kurama reached forward, caressing Hiei's cheek.

"I'm sorry Hiei. I don't want to leave you but there is nothing either of us can do," Kurama murmured, Hiei beginning to nuzzle into Kurama's hand. Hiei watched as Kurama reached up and took something from around his own neck. He held it out to his crushed lover. Hiei shakily held out a hand and inhaled sharply when a black hiruseki necklace fell into his hand. He stared at it in disbelief.

"But….but I…I gave this to you…! Why…why are you giving it back! I gave it to you because you're my lover!" Hiei cried looking shocked and disbelievingly into his lover's eyes.

"I know, I don't want anyone else to get it when I'm…"

"Kisama!" Hiei whispered in anger.

"Hiei I'm sorry. I lo-," Kurama began. Hiei glared at him.

"Hiei, please. If you can, get out of here. I don't know how you'll explain any of this if people find you in here with us dead." Tears filled both their eyes. They were unable to stop them, not with the looks their loved one held. Hiei nodded. He could do this one last thing for his lover, his mate.

Hiei leaned forward, pressing his mouth to Kurama's. He tentatively licked the fox's bottom lip. Kurama opened his mouth, allowing his smaller lover to map out every part of his mouth. It would be the last time. Hiei kissed Kurama trying to memorize every detail. The taste of his lover though it was mingled with blood. He didn't want to forget the only person to ever love the Forbidden Child.

"Ai shiteru," Hiei whispered, placing his head in the crook of Kurama's neck. He just barely heard his fox's reply of love.

Heartbroken sobbing filled the quiet night sky. Hiei couldn't hold the tears back any more. His lover was dying, soon to leave him alone again. All the rest were dead too. He sat there even when the beating heart under his ear stopped, sobbing for all he was worth. His cries echoed, no one was around to hear.

Sukuu

The sky was still dark. The moon though had made an appearance from behind the clouds, offering what light it could to the dismal scene. Blue hair flapped into the face of a young woman, her features shocked and worried. Her pink kimono flapped also in the wind, a guide to the River Styx flying across the sky on her oar. She searched the land below her, her violet eyes filled with dread of what she was sent to find. Botan's eyes brightened though when she saw a figure walking, slowly, on the ground below her.

"Hiei!" she called in relief. The small figure below didn't stop.

"Hiei?" she yelled again, beginning her descent. This time Hiei stopped. Botan landed in front of him, letting go a sigh of relief.

"Koenma scared me when he told me something had happened to you guys! But it can't have been bad if you're alright! Where are the others?" Hiei didn't answer. Botan waved her hand in front of his face. A dangerous move for her, but Hiei was scaring her suddenly.

"Hiei?" she whispered, taking a closer look. She pulled back with a gasp, her eyes widening. Hiei was covered in blood, cloak and pants covered in it. His hands were bloody and in the left he held a chain, a black hiruseki hanging from it. Tears trails roughly glowed on his cheeks, blood beginning to drip from his nose. She drew a breath.

"H-H-Hiei? Where are the others? Where are Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama?" Hiei still didn't answer her.

"What happened!" she yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. He looked up; eyes shimmering will tears brought by the utterance of his late lover's name.

"Are they….?" She started, unable to finish the thought. The deaths of her friends had been a horrifying thought to Botan from the moment she had realised they would die and she would have to ferry their souls. Hiei just barely managed to nod, bottom lip quivering as his tears threatened to fall. Botan broke into tears. Her sobs shook her but she steadied herself just enough to speak again.

"W-what happened Hiei?" she sobbed. Two tears fell from either eye, forming a crystalline river down Hiei's cheeks. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to form words that wouldn't come. Botan continued to cry.

"W-w-w-what happened?" she whispered again. Now sounds did pass his lips, but for Botan they were strange and unfamiliar. Such a language, it couldn't be real.

"Bright….Bright…light…..light….bright...light…." Hiei babbled. Suddenly he was sobbing harder then she. He dropped to his knees; bring his hands to cover his face in shame. Botan stared in disbelief at Hiei's unabashed sobbing.

"We…we should go back. We have to tell the girls and make sure you're alright. Please Hiei; you're the only one who can tell them what happened to those they love." Botan suddenly murmured. She pulled Hiei to his feet, but he fell again. She knelt down and ran her hands over Hiei's legs. He whimpered and pulled away from her when she felt the right one.

"Something's broken! You shouldn't have been walking!" She summoned her oar, managing to gently pull Hiei on board. She looked at him, his eyes held to life or anything. He looked dead. He was hurt and Botan's limited healing wasn't going to cover it. She stared at him for a moment. Hiei was in shock, they wouldn't get anything more out of him now then the mumbled words,

"Bright light."

Sukuu

There is the first chapter to Redemption! It took me about a week, but that's pretty good for me. BTW this is my first shonen ai/yaoi story. Yes there will be more in later chapters…..even though I just killed off Kurama….and Yusuke…..and Kuwabara. I have nothing against these characters but this is how the story started. They do "come back" in later chapters though. Believe it or not but this idea came from a combo of a hectic week at school and a drunk driving lecture. Those always put me in such a bad mood. I mean I already know not to drink and drive! I don't even plan on touching a drop of alcohol for the rest of my life! My brother was killed in a hit and run with a drunk driver, I know this lesson all to well. But enough about my screwed up life. Yes Hiei is supposed to be strange at the end, the rest just died and his lover before his eyes, death messes with a person. I will try to keep him as in character as this story will let me. I am screwing around with his past so forgive me if he acts a little too strange. A REVIEW A CHAPTER IS ALL I NEED TO CONTINUE THIS STORY!

TRASLATION:

Sukuu – redeem

Ningen – Human

Koishii – Beloved, Cherished

Kisama – Bast

Ai shiteru – I love you


	3. A Crystal Cloudy Picture

Thanks to **Jessica** who filled the one review requirement for me to continue and thanks to **Curry** who review not more the six hours later with an idea I didn't think of. While she is off base, it's an amazing idea. And Hiei is going to be slightly insane/deranged and Botan is going to play a role in this story. Though thanks as well to **dark-anime-lover2** for assuring me that I am not warping Hiei's character, and for assuring me that people really do read the notes at the end of chapters with the sympathy for my brother. Thanks again to you all. **KyoHana** Thanks for a repeat review I don't get many!

**On June 3rd the day after my school let out for summer break a boy in the grade above me drowned in a local lake. He is the second person to die from that class in six months; the first was in a violent car crash in January. The whole town was affected by their deaths and I was no exception. I am sad, and disgusted, to admit that their deaths helped me finish this chapter, making it real. I dedicate it to them, though few will ever know. I thank them.**

Redemption

_Ten perdu, jhamai se recobro. Medieval Occitan proverb, time lost can never be regained. Just like lost memories… Everyday in life we find something we tell ourselves we will never forget for one reason or another. Some are stupid and thus forgotten quickly; others are wonderful and can not be forgotten no matter how hard you may try. But in the end most people find themselves looking back to certain things you weren't trying to remember and realizing that those things are the most important to you. That's when your memory becomes foggy and you get annoyed. I've felt this often in the few years I've really thought about my life rather then how to get rid of it. I've found myself trying to remember all the little ways I knew people cared, a little or a lot. But it's hard. I never expected to have each one of them ended in a blink of an eye. All those things I want to remember, the last time we argued, the last time I thought you were annoying beyond normal comprehension, the last time we sparred, the last time you smiled at me…….the last time we kissed, it all becomes…_

Chapter 2; A Crystal Cloudy Picture

The darkened sky hid Botan's face as she looked upward. _They are dead. Yusuke…Kuwabara…Kurama…gone. But Hiei's alive, hurt but alive! _ She looked to Hiei, who sat beside her on her oar, muttering to himself "bright light". She couldn't get anymore out of him; it was as though they were the only words he knew. And each syllable was filled with dread and sadness as he spoke. _Hiei what happened? Will you ever tell? Was it so bad? Can you ever say?_ She was scared of the dead look Hiei's face had acquired in the last few minutes. _Enough daydreaming, Botan! Get a move on! _

The moment Botan took off into the now cloudless night sky, she felt arms go around her waist. _Oh! I didn't give him any warning!_ She berated herself. She was always forgetting to warn her passengers about take off, or so Yusuke had often said with Kuwabara's support._ Which they will never do again…_she thought. Would she ever manage a thought without one of them? She looked back to Hiei, who shook as he clutched her. His face was buried into her abdomen. He tightened his grip as they slowed not at all reassured by the gentle floating they now did.

"Hiei?" she whispered, surprised by her own voice which came out as barely more then a mere croak. She cleared her throat.

"Hiei?" she spoke again, this time a little clearer, a little stronger. He didn't remove his face from her pastel pink kimono and held on tighter.

"Hiei? Will you please look at me?" she whispered, sudden and unwanted fear welling inside her causing her heart to jump to her throat. _What if he's hurt somewhere else? He was covered in blood…Oh god he's hurt worse then I thought! Don't die Hiei!_ She took off, speeding towards Genkai's temple, her heart still beating in her throat. Hiei gripped her tighter then before.

Sukuu

Botan stared at the wall of the hall in Genkai's temple. She didn't blink, hell it didn't look like she breathing even. But the brown haired girl at the end of the hall knew better. Her hazel eyes watched her friend, noting every move and most of all the absence of a smile of her face. The teenaged girl walked up to her apparently depressed friend. Yukimura Keiko, straight A student and childhood friend of the newly deceased Urameshi Yusuke, knelt down next to Botan.

"Botan?" she whispered, "Do you want some tea or something? Or just to talk? You aren't letting your job get to you, are you?" Botan looked at the concerned girl, almost blankly for a moment. She smiled a little, before shaking her head.

"That's alright, Keiko. I don't feel like tea right now. And no, this isn't about me ferrying souls." _After all I didn't ferry theirs. I wouldn't have been able to handle that. I just want to know what's wrong with Hiei……_ The ferry woman had had a hard time getting Hiei off her oar – or for that matter letting go of her! – when they had landed in the back of Genkai's temple grounds. Getting him off her oar had been the easier of the two ordeals. But he had just simply refused to let go of her. Thinking about Hiei's behavior made the normally bubbly girl even more mournful and finally she looked at Keiko, who didn't appear to believe Botan anymore then she believed herself.

"You know what Keiko? I think I would like some tea…."

Sukuu

Hiei stared blankly into a similar wall inside the room Botan had been sitting next to. He hardly felt the gentle hands that touched his injured – and apparently broken – leg. The pale gentle and healing hands belonged to a young girl, whose cherry red eyes matched Hiei's only basically. Hers held more life; more hope for a future few of her kind looked for. Littered around and on her light blue kimono were bandages for the smaller wounds that needed no more then what a simple bandage could provide. The Koorime ice maiden Yukina looked up to watch Hiei's face as she tried to find the last of his numerous wounds. She grew concerned when Hiei appeared to still mutter under his breath. He'd been doing that since Botan had brought him here, him clinging to her.

Kioku

_Yukina had been simply sitting in her room for a moment, needing a moment to think. She'd heard Botan land, a distinctive sound not many at the temple would forget in their short - or long – life spans. She'd looked out the window happy to hear from Botan, as the Sanzuu River pilot had been busy lately. But her eyes had immediately focused on the black and bloody figure that clung to Botan as though she was a life raft. The little Koorime had always reacted quickly in seeing on of her friends hurt and this time was no exception. She had run out the door before Botan had even set her feet on the ground._

_"Botan! What's happened to Hiei? I thought they were on a mission! Where are the rest?" Botan had looked up, tears starting down her face, she opened and closed her mouth unsure what she was to say. Hiei though loosened his grip on her pink kimono. Hiei looked over at his twin. He opened his mouth as though to say something, before burying his face back into Botan's kimono. His shoulder's shook and one didn't have to be too bright to know why. Yukina was more then surprised, she almost fainted realizing that Hiei, tough with almost no emotions at all, was crying. She looked at Botan, Hiei's face in her clothing caused her to head down the slippery slope to full blown sobbing. She couldn't stop her mouth from saying her next words._

_"Their dead…Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama... they are all gone, Yukina…"_

Kioku

The little Koorime had the suspicion that Botan hadn't meant to tell her the awful news then, but she hadn't been able to stop herself. And Hiei, who had been crying….that hurt almost as much as knowing that the rest were dead. He had stopped crying now yes, but still the tearstains remained on his porcelain cheeks.

"What are you talking about Botan?" Keiko whispered from the hall. Yukina stopped what she was doing, looking to the door in apprehension. Botan couldn't hide if for much longer, Yukina knew. And they had to know. Suddenly another voice entered the unwanted conversation.

"What's going on here? Botan? What did my idiot brother do this time?" Kuwabara Shizuru asked from the door way, cigarette on its way to being put out. Yukina hesitantly opened the door and stepped into the hall, not quite shutting the door.

"Hello Yukina," Shizuru said and Keiko smiled having not seen the little Koorime in an hour. Botan looked at Yukina sadly.

"Is he…?' Botan trailed off. Yukina shook her head.

"There are something's I need to finish. His leg is really bad," she whispered looking back into the room. Hiei sat there, seemingly unaffected by Yukina leaving him half healed. _I want to be out here though; I want to know what happened._

"Botan? What are you and Yukina talking about?" Keiko inquired. Botan snapped her head towards the shorter of the two brunettes in the hall. Shizuru walked up, flipping angrily honey brown hair form her hazel eyes.

"Yeah, Botan spit it out. What did the boys do this time?" Botan swallowed thickly, she didn't know how or where to start. A thump echoed into the hall. Hiei limped to the doorway. Everyone stared. Hiei lifted his dull red gaze to Botan.

"Botan? Where are the rest!" Keiko asked frightened.

"….." Botan didn't know what to say.

"Botan, what happened to my brother?" Shizuru asked a slight flicker of worry in her voice.

"…..I'm sorry…….they...they won't….. be coming back….."

Everyone stared at the black clad figure in the doorway as he clutched it to stay upright. Hiei's voice was extremely hoarse, it scared them more then the sight of blood on his clothes.

"Wha…what?" the two girls whispered.

"Urameshi Yusuke, Kuwabara Kazuma and Minamino Shuichi aka Kurama are dead…." Botan whispered suddenly sounding calmer, almost business like. But she shook terribly.

"Hiei? What happened? Why weren't you with them?" Keiko shook as she spoke.

"I spoke to Koenma; they had finished their mission and were heading home when they were in a car crash. I don't know the details but-," Botan started.

"But why is Hiei alright! Why wasn't he there!" No one spoke, Hiei just stood there, quiet having no intention of answering the question himself. He was mumbling again. Now that Botan had spoken to Koenma she understood why Hiei was muttering "bright light".

"Hiei is the sole survivor," Botan whispered.

"Sole…?" the two girls whispered as Botan looked away. Yukina could almost sense the turmoil from the other two seeing Hiei in the doorway, she moved to get him back inside. She could just hear his muttering, so could the rest she supposed, but did they know what he said? Or only that he mumbled, almost babbling?

"It can't be true Botan. Nothing could kill them, not in this world," Keiko whispered.

"Oh Keiko, you have to remember that Kuwabara was only human, Yusuke was only half demon and appeared to take most of the blunt force in the crash, and Kurama was demon but in a _human_ body. It's actually not surprising…." Botan trailed off regretting her choice of words. Keiko just shook her head, tears filling her eyes. Shizuru still stood there looking at her as though expecting more of an explanation. Yukina was trying to reason with Hiei, appearing to have not heard Botan's comment at all.

"Please Hiei go back into the room so I can finish healing-,"

"Don't heal him Yukina." Yukina looked back in surprise.

"Keiko?" both her and Botan whispered in unison.

"If he survived a car crash where everyone else died, he should be just fine. He doesn't need to be healed," Shizuru spoke going to stand beside Keiko, who looked livid despite the tears starting down her face.

"But he's hurt…shouldn't I do something?" Yukina was so confused. She was sad they were dead too, she had cried when Botan had told her. But Hiei had needed her help and that had given her a distraction. She understood they were sad. But Hiei had lived, shouldn't hey be happy that at least one had survived? Yukina just didn't understand. She had no hard feelings towards Hiei, why would they?

"No! Don't do anything. He doesn't need it."

"But?"

"No Yukina, he's fine," Keiko stated again. Botan looked like she couldn't understand this anymore then Yukina could.

"Keiko! Didn't you hear Yukina say that he was still hurt! You can't really mean to leave him injured. None of the boys would want that if one managed to survive!"

"We won't know will we! They're dead! We'll never know what they want again!" Keiko screamed.

"Please Keiko, calm down! Death isn't the end of everything!" Botan reasoned.

"Can't Koenma bring them back?" Keiko asked brightening with hope. Botan looked away. She had hoped they wouldn't ask that.

"He can't Keiko. He can't bring them back. Yusuke has cheated death too many times for him to interfere. As has Kurama and he just can't get permission to bring Kuwabara back. He's tried to find a way but he can't. He just can't," Botan murmured.

"Hiei? What happened? Really happened?" they turned to him, he just continued to mumble.

"Hiei?" Still no answer from the half Koorime.

"What is he saying!" Shizuru demanded, anger taking over for sadness in the wake of her brother's death.

"He hasn't said much of anything!" Botan stated when the two girls began to look angry.

"….it's all their fault…wouldn't have been in that damn thing if those two could have woken up…………stupid Yusuke and Kuwabara…." Hiei mumbled. That set the two brunettes off.

"It's their fault they're dead! How can you say that? Are you really so cold hearted that you would think it their fault! How can you talk about your friends that way?" Keiko demanded.

"We were allies….."Hiei whispered, eyes gaining even more of a far away look. Yukina looked at him worriedly, clearly he was not well.

"That doesn't mean you should talk about them like that! How can you act like this when they just died?" Keiko yelled looking hurt at the thought that a person Yusuke had trusted so much would just act like it was some random people who had just died.

"If they had just-," Hiei didn't get the chance to finish the thought as Keiko's palm hit the side of his face, sending him into the next room. He struggled to get up with his injured leg and spoke again. This time though Shizuru kicked him hard, she didn't like his comments either. Before much more left his mouth he had been kicked and slapped a few more times. Any onlooker could have told that the two girls were angry, and his attempts to speak infuriated them more. Botan and Yukina stared in shock.

"Stop! He's hurt!" Yukina yelled. As one last kick was aimed at him, Hiei's already large eyes grew bigger almost with fear. The foot never connected, Hiei had ran.

"He shouldn't be running! His leg!" Yukina worriedly cried. Botan nodded and rushed out of the temple, oar materializing in her hand as she ran.

"Why did you attack him? He's hurt. I'm sure he didn't mean what he said! He's just not alright right now," Yukina whispered trying to defend Hiei. But Keiko just broke down in sobs and Shizuru leaned against the wall. Neither said a thing, leaving the little Koorime maiden there shocked, hurt, depressed, and more.

Sukuu

Hiei rocked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He stared at the bed spread's pattern, breathed deep the scent of roses that still hung in the air. How long would that smell last now? A few days? A few weeks? Probably no more then that. His mind was flooded with memories only this scent could bring back. So many memories. He shook his head, if he started crying here he'd be found. He sat in Kurama's bedroom; surely if he started to sob someone would hear him. So he held back his tears, sitting in the one place he had, for the briefest moment, considered something of a sanctuary.

His rocking continued, arms wrapped around his knees bending his injured leg. The hot, sharp pain he had felt running from Genkai's temple had now dulled to a seemingly constant smarting throb. But he had paid no mind to it and now a day later had yet to be found by anyone. As far as he knew, Kurama's human mother didn't know yet of her son's passing, he was positive that if the woman had heard something she would be crying as hard as the rest. After a moment Hiei looked to the desk.

He stood and moved towards the well used desk. Gently he opened a drawer, being quiet as to not awaken anyone. A sad smile graced his tired face. _It's still here…_ The silver frame glinted as moonlight hit it. Gingerly he took it out with a shaking hand, placing most of his weight on his uninjured leg. A photograph. The glass reflected his face, showing him just how tired and haggard he looked. He tore his gaze from the tear trails and focused on the occupants of the photograph. Kurama's smiling face looked back at him. Hiei smiled.

It was just simply them, Kurama and him. Kurama dressed just a little more casually them normal and smiling happily at the camera. Somehow he had managed to drape an arm around Hiei before it had been taken. He himself was more relaxed then normal as well, his cloak absent from the picture. Hiei could just see the cord of the necklace he had worn that day, and still did, hidden underneath his shirt. He was even looking at the camera. It was a nice photograph, which was why Kurama had put it into a frame. _Can't believe this was only a few months ago. We didn't have a photo of us together before that._

A shadow fell across Hiei's still form. He didn't move. His crimson gaze went back to the photo in his hand. The shadow shifted as though impatient. Hiei ignored it, lost in the memories and feelings the photo conjured. He unconsciously shifted his weight to his injured leg, wincing when pain flooded through him, but he didn't move back. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he agreed with Keiko and Shizuru. The pain Hiei felt coursing through him was the least he deserved living when they died. The shadow cocked its head. It was indeed impatient today. He sighed, eyes lingering for a moment longer on his lover's face. He opened his mouth to speak.

The phone rang. He heard someone rise and rush to take it before the person hung up. Hiei could hear the polite starts to the late night phone call. But then all sound seemed to stop. He felt as though he couldn't move and the shadow stopped shifting in impatience. The black cloud that descended onto the house hold caused the hairs on Hiei's arms and at the nape of his neck to stand on end.

A scream echoed through the once still home. The phone was dropped; Hiei could hear it thud against the floor before a second, louder thud joined it. The woman had fallen in shock. The rest of the household jumped up and shook off sleep rushing down to the fallen woman's aid. The sounds gripped and constricted Hiei's heart, causing it to hurt more. He looked wearily to the door, before turning to the one who caused the long shadow in the peaceful and forever now empty bedroom. He nodded.

He disappeared into the night with the other. He left behind almost no proof of his time spent in the room as the life shattering phone call had come. Yet sitting still on the oak desk as though waiting for something, or rather someone, was the silver framed picture of the two happy lovers. Also left behind by the pained half Koorime were two black gems on the ground, brought around by the beautifully smiling face of a boy who hadn't known his end was so soon in coming.

Sukuu

With soft, loving brown eyes and long black hair, Minamino Shiori looked remarkably well for the news she had been given not more then four days prior. Her son's death though was having its impact upon her, but being her she allowed few to know how much pain she was in. Especially right now, as in her living room were friends of her Shuichi. She looked at each of the four girls. None looked much better then she felt, and one fought her tears back right there on the couch.

"So his friends that were in the car with him knew you four also?" Shiori whispered. She hadn't known much about the mysterious friends her son had often been running off to see. One of the brunettes nodded.

"My brother and her 'boyfriend'," Shizuru answered, calling Yusuke Keiko's boyfriend for lack of a better, more fitting term.

"Yusuke and Sh-Shuichi," Keiko tripped over the almost unfamiliar name, "met when you were in the hospital sick, I think. And Kuwabara, well if you knew Yusuke you tended to meet Kuwabara one way or another." Keiko smiled at a memory of the two.

"Yusuke and Kazuma helped me out of something a while back and your son was always very kind to me, talking to me. Making sure I was alright. He was a good friend," Yukina whispered, willing herself not to shed Hiruseki stones in Shiori's living room.

"Shuichi was a friend to us all; it's just so hard to believe that they're all…" Botan whispered from where she stood. She had yet to find Hiei after he had fled and with the events of the past days was feeling rather morbid and sad, unable to say much to cheer one up. She hadn't been talking a lot in fear of making things worse. Shiori nodded and the rest of the girls looked away.

"Gomen Nasi, I didn't mean to make things worse. I just….I can't say anything good right now. I'm sorry, but I think it would be best if I leave." The other's nodded agreeing that they should go as well.

"Thank you for coming, for telling me about my son's friends," she whispered, walking with them to the door.

Just as Keiko walked out the door she turned back to say good bye again, but stopped when she say something lying on a table just inside the doorway.

"Oh my…that's beautiful. Guess your glad you had that done when you did," Keiko said smiling at the older woman. "Bye." Shiori smiled after the girls. Shutting the door she looked at what she had laid on the table moments before they had arrived. She picked the canvas up gently, gazing fondly at the well done portrait of her son. A mile graced his face and everything just seemed perfect. _The only problem is,_ she thought frowning, _I didn't have any such thing done…why did that boy make it….?_

Kioku

_Shiori sniffled sitting in her son's bedroom, she'd been in it almost all morning. The thought that her son would never walk back into his room caused a few stray tears to slide down her face. She had never expected to out live her son, never. A mother just doesn't expect to bury her child. She looked over to his desk. Shiori had spent much of the day after the phone call in her son's room and had almost immediately noticed the photo still standing on the desk. Shiori found herself staring at it again. Had she met the boy in the picture with her son? He looked vaguely familiar. And Shuichi appeared to be close to him… The doorbell rang. Slowly she made her way to the door, she felt drained._

_Standing on the door step was the very boy, shifting nervously from foot to foot something covered with a white cloth held in his arms._

_"Hello?" Shiori whispered. The boy looked up with tired red eyes._

_"Mrs. Minamino?" he whispered, voice hoarse. She nodded. He shifted all his weight to his right leg. He grimaced as though in discomfort but didn't move. He cleared his throat before speaking again._

_"Your son, I…he…I heard that he died. Ummm, I…," he stopped. He thrust the object out to her. Shiori took a step back in surprise. _

_"You're one of my son's friends, aren't you?" He looked at her in surprise, but nodded. She looked at him sadly._

_"Please, take it. It's yours," he murmured. Gingerly she took hold of it, slipping the white cloth off of it. It fell straight to the floor. In her hands was a beautiful canvas painting of her son. She looked at it in awe._

_"Careful, it might still be a little wet. I wanted to get it to you as fast as possible." She looked to the boy; a little red paint was on his cheek. The red paint on the canvas was a little shiny, obviously still wet to the touch._

_"Did you…?" The black haired boy looked away, wringing his hands._

_"Thank you," Shiori murmured. Nodding, he turned to walk away._

_"Are you alright?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned to her and nodded._

_"Please come in. You lost your friend and look weary. Please, let me get you something to drink or-," she started._

_"I lost my_ friends_, only friends," he whispered a far away look capturing his eyes. Shiori blinked in surprise. She knew there had been others in the car but had they been friends of her son too?_

_"Hold on a second," she said rushing upstairs with more energy then she'd had in the past few days. When she got back, her son's friend was still at the door looking emotionless._

_"Here," she whispered, holding out to him the photo of her son and him. He looked at it in surprise, but then took it from her, smiling fondly. He held the silver frame to his chest. They stood in silence for a while._

_"I just wanted you to have that," he whispered again. He jumped off the step, landing on his right leg. He winced and his leg buckled but he recovered and ran down the street before Shiori could call out to him again._

Kioku

She looked at the painting. _Poor boy, I wonder if he's alright…To lose so many in one night, how can one survive that? Those girls too, how could anyone be as thoughtless as the hit them and leave the scene. Maybe they could've lived if someone had found them._

She walked into the living room with the canvas and sat down on the couch. She gently began to cry again, more over her thoughts of a boy who forgot about his own pain the ease hers with the painting in her hands.

Sukuu

Blue hair bobbing, Botan walked rather slowly down the halls of the Reikai. Although she had been called into Koenma's office more then ten minutes earlier, she was in no hurry despite the oni acting as though it was urgent. _What can be so urgent now? Koenma's lost his Reikai Tantei, he has no one to send on missions. No one for me to bring information to... _ Sighing she continued her slow pace, blinking rapidly to stop the few tears that flooded her eyes.

She stopped at the door to the office, just staring at it for a moment as though she couldn't remember the function of it. She stepped inside. Everything was the same as always, the desk piled with paperwork that needed stamping. The large chair that always seemed to dwarf her boss. But there was no Koenma, no grumbling about paper work or stamps or oni causing problems.

"Koenma sir? Are you here?" she called turning her head from side to side in search for her small boss.

"Botan! There you are I called you in fifteen minutes ago!" Botan jumped at her boss's voice. King Enma Jr, more oftenly known as Koenma stood, in his teenaged form at her side.

"Sir you scared me! Why are you in this form?" Koenma shrugged, shifting his pacifier to the left side of his mouth to smile at her in an attempt to be cheery. Botan didn't react at all. Koenma frowned.

"Botan you have to cheer up! I have to admit that your lack of happiness is scaring me."

"I'm sorry sir, but with Yusuke and the others dead and the girls crying off and on every time I see them, it's hard to even think about smiling. And Hiei…..no ones seen him in two months, and he was hurt when he left…" Botan whispered. The absence of sightings of the little half Koorime worried her. He hadn't even shown up to look after Yukina. She didn't want to find out he was dead too. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"Have you heard from him?"

"No Botan, I haven't. Why would he contact me?" Botan looked away.

"I don't know..," she confessed. Koenma rested a hand on his subordinates shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine," he whispered before walking to his desk and sitting down, "I don't think there's much that could kill Hiei."

"But you didn't see him! He was pale and Yukina wasn't done healing his leg yet, who knows what he did to it by running!" The prince sighed. Pushing his brown hair out of his eyes, he looked at Botan seriously.

"Botan, who are you more worried about? The girls or Hiei? You know he can take care of himself," Koenma asked, pointing a finger to her. Botan blinked in shock. She looked downward, thinking.

"Hiei…Hiei!" she said confidently. "For the girls, they'll be alright. One day they'll move on with their lives. And they have people all around them to help them through this. But Hiei, if he's hurt and attacked, if he dies that's permanent. That's the end. Of course I'm a little more worried about him. I don't want anyone one else I know dying!" Koenma nodded. He linked his fingers watching Botan pace continuing to talk, apparently having kept a lot inside as of late. _It's unlike her not to do something if something is bothering her. This whole affair has really messed her up….just like someone else I know…_ Koenma rested his chin against his hands.

"Botan?" Botan ignored him, still pacing her talking turning to a rant. Koenma sighed.

"Botan!" Koenma hollered. Botan jumped and smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry Koenma, I honestly didn't mean to start that, I just….just need to get it out," she whispered. Koenma nodded.

"It's alright Botan, but I need to talk to you. I have something for you to do, alright?" Botan nodded enthusiastically. Koenma smiled.

"Good, good," he murmured. _And if _you're_ lucky you'll be seeing Hiei a whole lot sooner then you expected. I just hope you take things well…_

Redemption

Hiei awoke with a start. Sitting up in bed the sheets pooled around his middle. His clothes were scattered across the floor but a pair of sweatpants had been placed next to him presumably while he slept. He blushed gently picking up the pants and slid them on before leaving the room. But standing just outside the doorway he stopped and looked back inside. _Why am I in Kurama's bedroom? He's dead and my clothes…what the hell happened!_ Fear took hold of him as he raced down the stairs. A sound came from the kitchen. Hiei raced in.

Kurama, red hair pulled back, stood in front of the stove cooking. He looked from the food in surprise as Hiei leaned against the door in an effort to stay upright. His green eyes shone warmly at his lover.

"Hiei," his musical voice almost caused Hiei to fall. Kurama motioned him closer. Hiei ran in, jumping into Kurama's arms without hesitation.

"You're alive!" Hiei choked. Kurama rubbed his back as he shook.

"Of course I'm alive, what would make you think I wasn't?" Hiei didn't answer, only held on tighter. Tears spilt down his face, unable to hold them back.

"Shhh, shhh Hiei. I'm alright. If I wasn't, could last night have happened?" Hiei pulled back to look at his fox.

"Last night?" he murmured. Kurama chuckled. He gently touched Hiei's shoulder. Hiei's hand jumped up to touch the juncture of his neck and shoulder. He looked to the same spot on his Kitsune.

"We….?" Hiei breathed. Kurama laughed again, nodding.

"Don't tell me you somehow forgot this! Our mating?" Hiei smiled and hugged Kurama again. Kurama smiled as well.

"Hiei, sweetheart, my love, my mate, I've got to get back to our breakfast! Please let go!" Hiei pulled back embarrassedly and sat down at the table. Kurama smiled at him again and turned to the food on the stove. Hiei sat there watching and soon a plate of pancakes was set in front of him.

"Hiei?" Kurama whispered. Hiei looked up, a fork full of pancake half way to his mouth.

"Why did you come running in here? You had me worried when you started crying. It's unlike you," Kurama whispered looking worriedly at his mate. Hiei set the fork back down and stared at his plate.

"I just had a dream," he muttered.

"It wasn't good, was it?" Kurama looked at him sympathetically. Normally Hiei would've told him to stop but for once he decided to bask in his lover's, mate's, care.

"Hai, You…we……All of us had just finished a mission. You asked me to be your mate," Hiei smiled, "But then when we were supposed to go back, Yusuke and Kuwabara slept in and we had no way back. Then we ended up in that ningen contraption you call a car and …oh...I don't know what happened. Kuwabara was dead and Yusuke was dying and you too. You were dead by the end of it…" Hiei trailed off. Kurama shook his head. He reached forward and took Hiei's hand, stroking the backside with his thumb.

"It was all my fault too!" Hiei cried, looking up to him.

"Shhh, Hiei we're not dead, so it can't be your fault. This though is…," Hiei looked up as Kurama pulled his shirt up. A long jagged red line went down his middle. Blood began to spill from it and Kurama's skin gained a deathly look. His eyes lost life and his skin sunk in around his bones. Motley bruises appeared on his skin and Hiei didn't think. He screamed.

Hiei sat up clamping his hands over his mouth in an attempt to make his scream stay were it was, in the dream. He looked around the room, feeling his sheets pool around his middle as they had been waking in his dream. Only he had clothes this time and an absence of a mating marks. He'd had similar dreams for the past two months, though this was the first time Kurama had accused Hiei of killing him. Hiei shuttered at the memory. He looked to the clock on the bed stand. _Midnight…I'm never going to get any sleep……_ Hiei turned his window and stared out at the inky night. Clack, clack, clack… echoed through the room. He tensed.

Suddenly, he was tackled to the bed. He did shout then. A wet tongue licked his face thoroughly. His eyes widened more in disgust then shock as a furry face nuzzled him.

"Oh god!...ugghh...stop...ya-yamete! God…stop it! You fuzzy furball moronic ball of fluff! Yuck! Tatou! Don't lick me in the mouth! Kami! Ya stupid thing! Geroff...no, no…GET OFF YOU CRAZY BROWN FUZZBALL!" Hiei yelled at the thing assaulting him. Managing to push and hold it back Hiei glared the best he could at the thing. It blinked its large, languid forest green eyes, licking its chops with a pink tongue. Hiei shook his head, running his fingers through the many shades of brown in its fur coat. Banging from the front of the house caused both animal and yokai to jump, Tatou into Hiei's arms. Both shook staring out the bed room door.

break

Botan soared through the air, happy to have something to do to take her mind off the happenings of the past two months. The girls seemed to get better and then had a relapse and Botan honestly didn't know what to do to help them. _So I just have to find this place….strange that Koenma wanted me to bring these files to some random person. Wonder who Koenma could want an opinion from…… And this one lives in the middle of no where like all the psychics do…Hmmmmm…_Botan mused.

While Koenma's directions had been confusing, Botan was sure she was on the right track. A little back tracking to find her way a few minutes back had helped her a great deal. She looked at the file grasped to her chest again. She'd taken a peek at it and had been flabbergasted at the symbols and junk on the papers. Could anyone honestly read any of it? They even had coffee-like stains on them. She had to hope who ever this was she was delivering to, wasn't too picky about the papers they had to read from. These were messy even by Koenma's standards.

"There's the house!" she exclaimed to the wind. Laughing she landed softly in the dewy grass of the front lawn. She looked up at the two story house; the top floor appeared to have many large windows. Smiling she walked purposely to the door, stepping on the deck which creaked a little. She knocked. Loud.

break

Hiei held onto Tatou a little tighter as the pounding started again. _My god, is this what people mean when they talk about spooking themselves? I think I'm hearing things._ More loud bangs and Tatou's shivering assured him he was not. Gulping, he climbed out of his bed and walked hesitantly out the door, still holding Tatou tight in his arms. Not that the little animal minded.

As he climbed down the stairs he gripped the railing as tight as possible without smashing it in an attempt not to fall down the stairs. Taking each step slowly, he ran through the list of people who would knock on his door at midnight. It was rather short, chalked up to one person who probably would've called rather then come to him. He stopped at the landing. The knocking had stopped, maybe they were gone? He jumped as the banging started again. He sighed, no such luck…

Finally reaching the door he hesitated the answer it. _I should put Tatou down…_Now it sounded as though the person was hitting his door _with_ something._ Maybe not…_ Breathing deep he opened the door…..to reveal Botan on his front porch, who promptly fainted there after.

She awoke a while later, laying on something soft. She didn't open her eyes right away, but instead began to mumble to herself.

"I just had the worst dream. I went to this house and I was banging on the door, and then Hiei answered it with this little dog in his arms and looked like he was gonna fall over from fright…"

"Hi Botan…" Her eyes shot open and she looked to her right. Hiei sat on his legs and looked at her sheepishly.

"I guess I have a lot to explain…."

Redemption

Fheeew! Finally this chapter is done! Finished it after my 9 to 4 band camp and I'll tell you that with new freshman that is not an easy task. I also now have proof that I am indeed short! Had to line up tallest to shortest and I was in the shorted 1/5 of the band. . But at least I was next to my best friend! After the events of the last few days I really began to think about the inspiration behind this story line. I really do have to thank the two people who died in the grade above. The girl in the crash prompted the drunk driving lecture that put me in a bad mood and made me kill the rest in a car crash. And then the boy who drowned helped me with the scene with Shiori. I just thought about his mom who had to be feeling the same thing. It's taken four days to find his body, they finally found it today. Four days of round the clock searching…that's sad. This last part was supposed to have some humor because it's been really dark so far and I just needed to write in something light hearted. Hope you've liked this chapter, now **Review!**


	4. Bound Freedom

Thanks to the people who read the latest chapter.

**KyoHana:** Thanks, I was a little worried about the scene with Keiko and Shizuru; it was the hardest part to write. I didn't want their actions to seem over the top. And I'm glad you liked the flashback of Shiori and Hiei, I had a certain person in mind the whole time to write it.

Oh I am so sorry this is so late!

_In this world almost everyone knows a sort of freedom. And with that in mind you would think you could walk up to any free person and think that you could get at least a semi coherent definition of freedom. But you can't……because so many know nothing of what it's like to be without freedom of at least some kind, only reading of it in their lousy and sometimes inaccurate history books. Lacking freedom is like being helpless, unable to fight back and without opinion. You're afraid for your life in the most simple of circumstances, you have no worth. You can be hated for simply existing, unable to have the freedom to love as well… And me? Do you think I speak as though I know of freedom after having none? Probably…but I am not free. I am bound, first in fear of my life, next in hopes of redemption. And even if I can manage that redemption, I still will not be free, for I will still be bound to my past and to my own conscious telling me over and over what I've done. This is a bound freedom few know…_

Chapter 3; Bound Freedom

Botan continued to stare at the seemingly nervous half Koorime. Or maybe she was mistaking nervousness for being tired, as he yawned having enough manners to cover his mouth. She turned her eyes to the carpet underneath her feet, going over in her head Koenma's orders. _Okay he said to take that file, which Hiei has in his hands, to someone who would be able to help the Reikai in some matters….which of course Hiei can help but…all of that in the file looked so technical, something Kurama is – would've been good at. His directions though….so backwards…_

"Hiei…?" she whispered cautiously, "Where are we?" Hiei looked up from the file and looked her square in her cotton candy eyes.

"You don't want to know that," he stated, his voice conveying that it was the end of that discussion. Botan scrunched her face up angrily, but Hiei didn't notice. His nose was deep into the file.

"You…can read that?' she whispered as she watched his crimson orbs move across the page. He waved his hand as he answered.

"Kind of." Botan perked up. Something had just occurred to her.

"Then you're supposed to bring it somewhere aren't you! I can give you a lift-." Hiei waved her off again, continuing to be seemingly enthralled by the papers.

"No, you've brought it to the right place. Damn, I wish Akira would stop spilling coffee on the papers he's gotta pass on. His handwriting's bad enough as it is." Botan just watched. All her steam had left, as Hiei continued to study the coffee stained papers. She couldn't wrap her mind around what was happening. Hiei looked up suddenly. He smirked, as close to a smile as he would get to.

"Guess if Koenma sent you with this, he means to have you come back. Wel-…..Wait! Botan!?" he yelped as she took the file from his hands and took off in to the night sky. He stared wide eyed out the window as Tatou jumped on his shoulder.

"I HAVE TO READ THOSE, Y'KNOW!!"

Redemption

Botan stormed into the Reikai Prince's office, not pausing to apologize to the oni she caused to fall. Thoughts cluttered and mind fuming, she couldn't think of more then getting to Koenma and sorting the whole mess out. She'd apologize later. Reaching the long, pinkish doors marking the Reikai office, Botan stopped.

"I rushed here and I don't even know what I'm going to say….Oh Koenma why'd you put me in this predicament?" And she pushed through the door. Koenma looked up from his piles of paperwork and gave Botan a small smile.

"Ahhh, so you're back now! Sorry for the directions, I'm afraid I hadn't another choice. But you got there and back faster then anyone else so far. So now – Botan? Is something the matter?"

"You knew I was going to see Hiei, is that why you asked so many questions?"

"You haven't taken this quite how I had hoped."

"How was I supposed to take it!?" Koenma was silent, he just watched her. Botan fidgeted, unsure of why she was so interesting at that moment.

"Do not worry about it Botan. This was to be voluntary, if you don't want to, I can't do anything about it. But please, think it over, you said yourself you wanted to make sure he was alright." Botan shook her head and walked out of the office more confused then she had walked in.

Koenma watched his Ferry girl walk out, a little heavy hearted. _I thought you would help Botan; it's just in your nature. What did he do, that all that evaporated before you could do anything? _Koenma smiled some as he rested his head against his hand. _Wonder if she realized she still has the file in her hands._

--

Botan stood in the hall, just feet away from the office staring at that manila file. She opened it, flipping through each brown stained page. The words looked so jumbled to her, but then it wasn't Japanese. Could she really believe that Hiei could read it? And Koenma was acting so strange. Like she was supposed to know something, but she didn't. She didn't know what Koenma was getting at. She didn't understand! There was something going on and, and both of them wanted her to be a part of it. Hiei…he had been welcoming her, hadn't he? And Koenma had thought she'd jump at whatever offer there was.

"I don't understand, and I don't want to. I wanted to help Hiei but…but now it's just too hard to understand."

Redemption

The whole house echoed with a 'thunk' as Hiei's head slipped from the window pane to the windowsill, causing him to wake with a headache he hadn't imagined possible without a demon smacking you good with a tree branch. It also caused the only other occupant of the home to jump skyward at the sound so early in the morning. Rubbing his head - and having a feeling that an ugly purplish bruise would appear there later in the morning hours – Hiei was forced to resign to the fact that he had fallen asleep beside the window believing Botan would show back up. At least to drop the _file_ off.

The gentle padding of awkward feet pulled him away from the sight beyond the window and to the small brown furball he called a dog that had the tenacity – and ability – to glare at him.

"Don't look at me. If Botan had showed up, I wouldn't have fallen asleep here." It looked at him condescendingly. Suddenly, one her large floppy ears perked up to a sound only she heard. As the high pitched yipping of his dog filled the once peacefully quiet house, Hiei forced himself up and towards the door, limping almost all the way. The break in his leg had not healed well, after all no one had looked at it for a little over a week and half after it happened. And he'd been running around on said broken leg all that time. He actually had started to wish he didn't have such a high tolerance for pain. So as he limped to the door, trying not to trip over the still yipping Tatou, he had to wonder who in this realm would knock on his door at….what time was it anyways?

His burning eyes searched for a clock, which glowed in the small kitchen, proclaiming the time to be 6:30 in the godforsaken morning. Reaching the door opened it slowly, just in case. Not for a demon or anything, but those annoying humans that came door to door, even if he was in the middle of nowhere. Nothing was out there though, not a thing. He looked to Tatou, back out the door and then to Tatou again.

"I'm not sure which one of us is crazier." Turning back with an inaudible sigh, he had to use the closing door as support as he encountered the perky Ferry girl now in his entranceway. The perky-ness was fading from her face though; obviously tales of working with him had gone down the grape vine all the way to her. She was not happy to be in his house, and she was going to let him know it. Especially as she now started down the hall at a very brisk pace. One that in his current, and probably everlasting, condition was just a mite to fast. Something he had never thought would happen.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Hiei tried to ask as politely as his pride would allow. He got no answer. Instead a portal appeared and the Ferry girl walked through, leaving him to follow or be left behind. He walked through the eerie blue portal, Tatou racing as fast as her too big paws allowed after him.

Sukuu

Botan watched the other three girls talk, not actually hearing any piece of the conversation. She was still just too lost. The file had been hidden in her apartment, unwilling to give it back to Koenma as she was. She smiled as Keiko laughed a nice sound in the past months. Pale pinkish hair caught the edge of her vision. She turned as Genkai sat down beside her, also watching the three girls. They stayed silent for a while, before Botan turned to the old master and spoke.

"Genkai? I…could I ask you something?" Genkai turned to her.

"Go ahead Botan. I figured something was wrong, you've been very quiet today."

"Koenma's asked me to do something."

"And that's abnormal, is it?" Genkai raised an eyebrow at the strangely strained tone of the energetic Guide. Botan looked over and blushed, realizing it had sounded a tad stupid of her.

"I mean-"

"He wants you to do something other then ferry souls?"

"Yeah, I guess if it was at any other time I might have been okay with it but…Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara just died. I-…I don't know if I could do it," she trailed off, eyes downcast staring at her hands.

"Then tell Koenma you can't do it so soon after the boys' death." Genkai glanced over at the sky blueness of the Botan's hair. She still stared at her hands, she was unconvinced.

"There's more to this?" Botan looked up and nodded. But before she could say more to the wizened Reiki master, the other three girls were right there.

"Hey, Botan? Come with us into town?" Keiko whispered. Shizuru looked as though didn't really care but would go with it either way. Yukina though smiled brightly at her and Genkai gave her a small nudge, causing the Ferry girl to jump up and walk way with them. She looked back at Genkai though, who nodded. They would finish the conversation later. But even if she hadn't gotten to the real matter, Botan felt much better already.

Sukuu

"You're going to make me say this, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah," a hoarse chuckle followed.

"Okay, okay, I'll start. But this is the last time!"

"You say that every time."

"Shaddup."

"Get on with it," a voice farther away from the two arguing ones hollered. The woman, who sat there arguing with the dark haired man beside her, stuck her tongue out at the carrot top a few cubicles away.

"Okay, so I was at my parents' cabin in the north woods, okay? And I'm jogging, with music playing-"

"Blaring." A glare was sent the way of the carrot top.

"Well, the music was _playing _out some old big headphones that I thought were so cool back when I got them, and I passed this grouse that was on the ground, next to a beech tree."

"What's a grouse?" Stares went to the carrot top. He backed off.

"Like I was saying, I passed this grouse. I was stoked because I had gotten really close to it, and well, they're hard to get close to when you're not jogging down the street. And then the thing starts pecking at my feet. And well, since I'm such a_ great_ runner, I decide to out run the grouse. Well, then it starts pecking at my ankles. I ran a little faster, but I fell down, flat on my face. I completely burned the wire that connected my head phones. I'm bleeding and the grouse jumps on my head and starts pecking it! I try hitting it and it pecks harder!" By this point half the station area was crying with laughter. The girl smiled some.

"So I throw the thing off my head, and I ran down the road. It stopped following me, I kept running. My whole left leg was covered in blood, and there were my parents coming over the hill. And I'm crying as my dad rolls down his window. He asks 'What happened?' and I'm sobbing and manage to choke out 'I was attacked by a grouse' and he starts laughing!" And with this some choked, laughing rather hard. The girl just grinned, while rubbing her left leg that three summers ago had been wrapped in bandages.

Hiei almost snorted from the office a floor above the cubicles. With a cat walk that connected the other offices there was a large hole in the floor that the bosses could easily over see their workers. That is if the though ever struck them to do it. No, the boss that over saw this particular branch part was laughing with them down on the floor. Luckily that wasn't the one he was now waiting for. No, it was worse. The boss he was waiting for was simply talking down the hall with the pretty secretary.

"Has this whole place gone to the dogs?" Tatou looked up at him. Hiei scratched her ear. He wasn't talking about the man who laughed with his employees, no that had been done since the beginning as he had found. It was the man drooling over the secretary that was getting to him. So he pulled Tatou into his lap to avoid the stream of people outside the office almost stepping on his small 'dog', and settled into glaring at the inconsiderate man. And that was all he did, as getting up to yell in his face meant using that _thing_ and there was no way until hell froze over and the devil started a hockey team that he was going to pick that up again. So he waited murderously for the fool to walk into his office. It had been one week since Botan escape with the file, for which his butt was busted, and everyday since then he had been hassled by the three people he never, never ever, wanted to see again. Couldn't they let him enjoy what they called his "retirement" in peace? He had been by no means in the place long enough to be in retirement, nor was he old enough to technically call it a retirement, but that was how they put it down in the file. The morons should've spoken more with the head "honcho" as they kept calling him. And so, because of major problems in the area of stupidity, there was now an irate fire demon in Micah Gibson's office, which was currently planning how to absolve the department of said stupidity. A plan that most likely involved a sword in some way, shape, or form.

Now, Micah was a relatively new man to this area of the department. His first week as head of it in fact, something Hiei hadn't bothered to think about as he continued his glaring. So, as he walked into his own office he was a skip and a step away from a massive heart attack. Micah clung to the door to keep himself upright as the shock left him and fear crept into him in its stead. He gulped, having very little to say as this was only his third meeting with a demon in the ten years he'd been working with this organization. He was scared to death of the creatures and his superiors had kindly kept them away from him. Well, until now. And so he was left to stand there in shock, fear, horror with the door as support.

"You are not the one I'm supposed to be speaking with. Where is he?" Micah didn't answer.

"Where is the one who had this office before? They have it screwed up." _Again_. He mentally added. The woman who had pushed him this way as though he was part of some tour group was well known for doing stupid things like that. Micah gulped as the gears in his head started working again. He nodded and pulled a younger man from the hall and whispered to him. And with in the minute Hiei took to resolve whether or not to put his newly formed plan into action, a familiar face was stuck inside the office door. Baby blue eyes widened. Hiei almost slapped a hand to his face, had he not remembered the time he'd done that so much he'd left a mark. A large mark. Instead he watched the curvy woman push her way into the office. And then she started chattering. Or it sounded like chattering since Hiei hadn't heard a person fluent in the language, or with such an accent, for almost six years. Something suddenly told him he was going to be in serious need of a chiropractor by the end of the day.

"What are you doing sittin' down here?" Her accent unmistakable, as well as the large cowboy hat permanently glued to her head could make her only one person._ Sweet Elizabeth Turner_. His mind easily supplied the accent with which the man who had introduced her spoke with. And with that she tried to crush him into an embrace. She backed off when Tatou growled which probably saved his spine, and instead just beamed at him. _Why does she have to have such a sunny attitude all the time?_

Elizabeth scanned him happily. It was nice to see someone at least somewhat familiar in this hell hole of a place. Why had she let them talk her into coming to the Tokyo building anyways? She stared at the growling …thing. Couldn't he honestly get rid of it? It did nothing for his image. Looked like an overly hairy Chihuahua. She hardly heard anything the two imbeciles behind her were saying, not that she actually understood much of it. _Damnitt, now I really regret losing my translator._ But she did know one thing for her little knowledge of the Tokyo building. He was most definitely in the wrong office.

"Okay, Sugar, come with me! I'll getcha to the right office!" And with that she turned around and headed straight out of the office and down the strange cat walks she had been relieved to find most organization buildings preferred. And as she made it halfway to the corner, she heard a clunk on the cat walk floor. She stopped and blinked. She turned back around to watch the little animal patter out of the room and then Hiei, left foot first. She shrugged and continued down the hall. The clunk had probably been the dog thing jumping down. But then it came again and she whirled around in time to watch Hiei walk the few paces to catch up with her. Left foot, then right and another clunk. And it happened again as her almond eyes widened. In his left hand the slim wood of a cane resided. And as he moved his right foot forward to over take the shocked Texan the cane also came out ahead. He leaned heavily on it and kept moving. Elizabeth just stared.

Sukuu

With the flop of a manila folder on his desk, Koenma looked up from his paperwork. An oni stood in front of him, nervous and fidgeting. A brown coffee stained paper peeked from the folder.

"Botan asked you to do this?" A nod from the oni. Koenma sighed.

"Alright then. You may leave." Koenma sighed heavily again. So this was to be Botan's answer, was it? She wasn't going to give the remaining member of Reikai Tantei a hand at all. Though after what he'd seen of Hiei when he'd contacted him a little over a day ago, there wasn't going to be a lot people who would feel up to the task. Koenma absent mindedly rubbed his neck, before calling in a different Ferry Guide. It appeared that his paperwork wasn't going to get done today.

--

Botan walked slowly down the halls of the Reikai once again. Yes she had returned the file to Koenma, but she wasn't sure yet if that meant she didn't want to help Hiei. She didn't doubt that was the way Koenma was going to take it, but she wasn't ready to say to him otherwise. So she continued her slow march. As she made to turn the up coming corner, she stopped at the voices of a few Ferry Girls.

"I don't believe that Koenma wants you to go back there!"

"Neither could I! I really don't want work with him again. That one time six years ago was bad enough!"

"I heard that he's gone down hill since the detectives died. I mean really down hill. He hasn't left that safe house, or anything. Even heard that he can hardly walk anymore."

"You're right about that part. He can hardly walk. It's really bad, that limp." Botan continued to just stand there. Her mind went to Hiei. A limp, Hiei had a limp. She hadn't seen it when she was there. _But then again I left really fast and I was out when he carried me inside._

Ten minutes later, Koenma's door almost came off its hinges as Botan stormed back in and agreed to whatever it was Koenma had sent her to Hiei to do.

Sukuu

It was one thing to come to terms with his crying the night of the accident, but now he couldn't believe that once again the salty streams trailed down his cheeks. He stood on top of the small headquarters building where he was to be assigned for the time being. Just until the specs for the job came in and everything was clear. But he just stared into the horizon in an effort to forget everything that was happening and would happen. He wanted to forget the wetness trailing down his face again and the gentle breeze much like that night and he wanted to forget more the anything the words of an unknowing individual downstairs.

_"Hey, did ya hear?! We're only fifteen miles from where the Reikai's Tantei died!"_

Hiei shook his head in a vain effort to get the words to leave him. He sat down, stiffly, and watched the setting sun before him. How long, in all honesty, was he going to last? Not just with the emotional problems and weights falling on him at any moment of the day, but with the sudden decision for his consultation of the last six years to go back to what it had been those first two years was something he wasn't sure he'd be able to do. His limp left him really mobility challenged. Plus, his skills in the areas they were going to use him in had gone rusty. He'd had very little need for half of it consulting, and the team had never needed those precise skills.

He sighed as the doors that lead to the roof top opened. Now he was hidden from view in his resting spot, even the god awful cane, so the dizzy and giggling being didn't spot him. She spun a few times, giggling madly, before she stopped and stared at the setting sun as Hiei had been. She plopped down hard on the roof as Hiei had done earlier and watched the sun. Hiei turned back to sight as well. _If she's not bothering me, I might as well not let her know I'm here._ Neither moved until well after the sun set. The girl never noticed Hiei and Hiei didn't do a thing to try and change that. As Hiei stood to leave the roof top after the girl had, a rush of wind beside him caused him to jump, jar his right leg painfully, and fall back to roof. Cotton candy eyes stared at him, taking in every inch of his figure, as badly as he looked at that moment.

Botan just stared. Hiei was a mess to her eyes, so used to seeing him almost never changing in his black cloak and bad ass glare. He was pale, a little shaky. His hair, well part of it stood up as it always had, but some strands showed defiance by falling down. Almost like his version of bed head. His clothes were a little too big; as though he was trying to be more comfortable then keep his normal image. And besides his shaking had was the slick wood of the cane. Her eyes stayed on it for a long while before, unable to help herself, she reached out quickly and hugged him.

"Oh Hiei, I'm gonna be here now, Koenma has me helping you!"

"I-I don't need help…" Hiei choked out. But Botan only held on tighter, a few tears finding their way down her cheeks.

"But I wanna help," she whispered. Hiei looked to the side, heaving a sigh. He placed a hand on her back, using the other to keep himself supported.

"….fine…" he mumbled. The wind blew again and the tears welled in his eyes. Tonight was honestly too much like that night.

--

Botan felt like bursting with excitement. They stood in the office of the head man in this district. Hiei stood three feet to her right trying very hard to not be associated with her. The few that were also in the room stared and pointed, whispering with little smirks and gleeful expressions. The director wasn't in his office and was keeping them waiting. Under most circumstances it wouldn't have been so bad but, news, especially bad, travels fast. Everyone in the small headquarters building knew who they were, and why they were here. Finally the door opened and the director walked in. An older man, he was graying, and had eyes that said little but conveyed his time in the organization.

He looked at no one and just simply sat behind his desk. Only once he had shuffled through the papers there did he look up to the rest in the room. Threading his fingers he cleared his throat to address them. At about that same moment, a girl, the same one from the roof and who had been telling the grouse story came running into the room. She looked sheepishly to the others in the room, particularly the ones who looked mortified at her entrance. Those who weren't mortified, the ones who had never met her before that moment, laughed. Hiei rolled his eyes, and Botan looked sympathetically at the girl. She noticed almost none of it as she apologized and stood next to her people.

"Now that it appears that everyone is here, I will hand out the orders." Hiei was mildly interested in the change of policy, having also had his orders randomly dropped off at any moment. Sometimes right on top of his head in a very large file. They always had bad aim, but he had been one of the lucky ones. At least it hadn't gone below the belt.

"First thing I wish to do though, is thank the people from the American Branch for the help we are being granted. Those of us who have never worked with the Americans, do give them a chance."

"Yeah! You don't wanna mess with us or ya'll be messing with Elizabeth Turner!!" There were some high-fives and happy hoots at this from the left side of the room. The rest of the room grumbled and there was some eye rolling.

"Ahem!" the director cleared his throat again; "I would like to finish this sooner rather then later. Now while I am not to tell you the whole mission right here, as it will be explained in the file, but it does has to do with a recent demon in the area."

"And because the damn Reikai Tantei went and died on us, we have to take care of what should have been their messes. Damnitt, it was so much easier to attend to the real problems when they would take care of those kisamas." _Scratch that, not everyone knows who we are. _Botan sucked in a deep breath at that, and Hiei's eyes dropped to the floor for a moment. Others in the room hushed up at that and shot the man nasty looks. He returned them with vigor.

The director didn't appear happy either.

"I will talk to you later Akira. Now I will need to pair a few people up for this. Now…" At this Hiei zoned for a moment. He briefly looked to Botan, who didn't look as nearly as excited at before. The mention of death had a quick sobering effect.

"Along with Jaganshi Hiei and Hikari Spirit. Though I do believe that there is to be another with you two. I believe that is you Miss…?" Hiei was startled back to reality and so apparently was Botan.

"Botan, my name's Botan," she sputtered after a moment.

"Yes, welcome Miss Botan. Now since there are a variety of jobs in this I do believe that I needn't say much more. Everything is in your files, so good day." And with that people wandered out, leaving Hiei, Botan and Hikari Spirit in the room together. The director coughed.

"All of you may leave now," he said again, and they took their cue to leave, Botan pushing Hiei to it. Standing just outside the door, Hiei turned to Hikari. Before the accusations could fly from his mouth, Hikari was sputtering.

"I honestly didn't know this was gonna happen!" Her accent was rather well hidden. Better then most of the Americans most of Japanese Branch had heard of those who had come. Botan jumped in before Hiei spoke.

"What is it you do?"

"I'm good with poisons. Some other things as well. Ano…I'm sorry you're stuck with me?" she gave a half grin. Hiei just stared. _What the _hell_ were they thinking?!_

Sukuu

Now this is actually shorter then I had planned, but this seemed like a good stopping point and it's about the same size as the first chapter I think. If anyone is familiar with my other stories, you recognized Hikari Spirit. Her role is small for now, it may grow bigger but she is by no means exactly like in the other story, so no spoilers if you read this. Some things have been changed for the purpose of this story such as her age, affiliation with the Reikai and her family situation. For the most part the similar things are her looks, personality, and abilities concerning the plants that will come later. And the few changes because this is a yaoi story.

Once again so sorry for the delay, but summer Va K started and marching band as well. Also small change to prologue it's now two years before Yusuke's first death.

Ja


	5. Work Together!

Sorry it took so long. Here you go!

_Interaction. There are not a lot of ways to get past it. Outside of becoming a hermit in the uninhabited regions of Alaska, that is. But I hate snow, so that's been out of the question from before someone suggested it a few years back. Interaction between two living beings seems to be the basis on how some live. They couldn't live without it. Some can't live with it, as mentioned. But those who must work with many, with those of such diverse backgrounds, beliefs and ideas that one wrong word can spell disaster, being a recluse is not an option. After all, as many can find they can step into any country and either be the most loved or the most hated person, and sometimes it even depends on the day of the week and none of it can be avoided. Interaction is something that can't be avoided if things are to go well. Doesn't mean I can't try._

Chapter 4; Work Together!

Hiei continued stare at the girl, she looked to the ground in embarrassment. Botan looked between the two. Hiei gulped, shook his head and backed away a step at a time. Hikari looked up in surprise, and gently reached a hand out to him. He jumped at the gesture, eyes widened before narrowing to anger. He backed up again. And then turned as fast as his injury let and hurried down the hall. Botan blinked in her surprised but rushed after him. Hikari blinked as well and let her hand fall to her side.

"What did I say?" Botan looked over her shoulder to the confused agent.

"I don't know."

Hiei didn't quite know where he wanted to go, nor how he would lose Botan in the process, as now the Ferry Guide could easily keep up with him. Tuning the corner to a large and almost packed debriefing room, he weaved between the people as he short stature would allow. Cane or no. Botan stood at one end at a loss for where Hiei could be hiding within the people. Hiei stood at the opposite end watching her search and stepped out the door. The simple stair well on the other side made him pause for only a moment. While tricky in the beginning, the damn things were easier now. But fast speeds, maybe not quite so. At his home he's simply been able to take his time or for that matter avoid them at all costs, which he'd done for a while sleeping on his couch in lieu of a bed. He sucked in a breath and took the challenge. Taking each step as quickly as he could, he reached the landing to the first floor and silently pushed the door open into the deserted hallway.

He slowed his pace and walked close to the wall, just in case. Botan, with her personality he figured, wouldn't just barge through the group that had been standing in the debriefing room. He stiffened to an almost unimaginable degree as the door creaked open behind him. He turned hesitantly to the door and his left eye twitched as his sight landed on a somewhat angry blue haired woman.

"Now Hiei, what was that for? She didn't do anything. And you went and left her standing in that hallway. We are supposed to work with her!"

Hiei's eyes took on a new degree of hardness, as he all but snarled at Botan.

"**I am** to work with her. There is nothing about you that can help us in this. And I **will not** work with her at all. I am working alone." Botan scowled a bit at him. Hiei only looked stood his ground and kept up his gaze. But as Botan moved towards Hiei, he bolted. He didn't place the cane on the floor as he ran down the hall and turned towards the entrance to the building. He ignored the pain from his crippled limb and his stumbling in attempt to leave. He reached the door and left Botan a world behind as he raced to the outskirts of the down. Crippled, in pain and stumbling, he still had his demon endurance.

--

Sitting seemed to take an agonizingly long time to become comfortable. The tree he sat under though had little chance of being found and he felt as if he'd used all his energy to stay upright in his flight. He let go a shaky sigh as his lungs sought to catch up with the amount of oxygen his body craved. But the shaking wasn't just in his breathing, Hiei's whole body shook with unmerciful shivers that had nothing to do with his run. His hand still gripped the wood of the cane, and he looked at it disdainfully. He raised his hand and it and was about to fling it, but then again if he flung it, how would he get back to the headquarters building? Hiei's leg wouldn't stand for such abuse a second time in one day. He set it back half ways in his lap, and for the first time, Hiei really looked at the thing. He wasn't even sure how they had gotten one that would work with his height. Hell, he didn't even know who had had the forethought to go out and find a small cane that wouldn't make things worse.

And yet here he sat with that smooth wood cane that he luckily hadn't crushed to smithereens quite yet and hadn't given him a sliver. _How the hell would it do that anyways,_ he though angrily to himself_, it has a smooth finish._ The cane was even was made of a dark wood, fitting both his moods as of late and his taste in colors. But he hated the thing to an extreme. The idea of destroying it had passed through his mind on many an occasion. But not being able to go more then a few steps without falling flat on his face or backside didn't appeal to him either. Going without it only worked in his home where none but Tatou could see his mess ups. And it was a dang good thing she couldn't talk or she'd been booted out.

His eyes misted over, and he shut them tightly to block the chance of crying the open area. The night on the roof had been a mistake; to cry so openly was inviting more problems into his life. And if that girl, Hikari had caught him, well, he would've run the moment they were announced as partners. That Botan had found him shamed him to no end. That was twice he's cried in the presence of the guide.

Botan was racing as fast as she could when Hiei managed to give her the slip. She couldn't use her oar around so many humans, she wasn't stupid. But what had really surprised her and caused a short delay in her reaction, was the speed Hiei was using to evade her. The Ferry girl couldn't believe that his leg was allowing him to move at such a rate with out much pain. She stood at the corner of the street as cars moved by. Where to go, where to look? His leg wouldn't allow him out of the city, but where in the city would he hide. In the years he'd worked with Yusuke and the rest, Botan had come to know some of the many places he would hide, relying on Kurama to find him when those areas didn't pan out. But now, she was at a double loss. A new town and no one to help her look. Continuing to watch the cars go by and avoid the gazes of passersby, a plan formed slowly in her head. Taking a deep breath and pooling its pressure with her courage she walked to the nearest street store and walked in.

Behind the counter was a young man, boredom written across his features, absentmindedly going through the few things on the counter as he waited for the next costumer to be ready to check out. Botan walked up to him and his face split into a grin at her.

"How may I help you?" he asked in a polite manner. Botan smiled some, his disposition rubbing off on her.

"I just have a small question. I don't know if you happened to notice a guy run pass the store a few moments ago with a small dog? He might have had a cane on him?" Dark eyes becoming thoughtful, the clerk thought for a moment. Finally he shook his head in an apologetic fashion.

"I didn't, sorry. You could ask the man over. He's been looking at the shelf for a while. Since it's near the store's front windows he could've seen something." Botan smiled and nodded quickly.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome." Botan moved over to the thoughtful man beside a stack of cards. She tapped him on the shoulder and started again.

"Excuse me; I was wondering if you could help me?" A nod and Botan smiled.

--

Several stores, rude people and helpful strangers later Botan found herself nearing the outskirts of town.

"Yep, this is the type of place Hiei'd hide in. Lots of trees, no people, as far away from the people looking for him as possible. Definitely Hiei. Now, which tree," she mumbled, feeling quite sarcastic. She moved slowly, the energy it had taken to track Hiei to even this vague location was enough to leave her feeling its effects. And her anger towards his treatment of an innocent person was still stewing and bubbling as her thoughts turned to it often in her search. Kicking at a branch laying on the ground in her frustration, Botan whipped her head in each direction looking for some sort of sign of where she wanted to go next. Some way to search the area that wouldn't leave her lost or skip where he could possibly be hiding. Trying to force her thoughts in the right direction she stopped her restless moving and shut her eyes for a moment. She felt her blame on Hiei for the girls lost look was at least a bit justified, but then again how was she to know just how Hiei was taking the deaths and the blame? Hiei wasn't one to talk, everything would have to still be bottled up, locked away for the times when a thin crack came to leak some out. And cracks there were an abundance of for the moment as he tried to put his mask back into place. With some of her senses blocked, Botan picked up a sound nearby.

There was crushing of leaves and little whimpers of an animal in the air. The whimpers turned to long high whines and there was more crushing of leaves. Some mumbling came as well, the whines grew, annoyingly so. More words, a little louder and few barks and Botan headed left of her position in a quick guess of the sound. More barks and whines and she altered her path some. In a few moments on her path, she came across a moodily prancing brown dog and Hiei angrily swatting at it with his cane from the tree roots he sat on. When the black haired apparition noticed the blue haired girl watching the strange display, he turned his still fuming gaze away and placed the dark cane in his lap. Tatou looked up to Botan, with her pupil-less canopy green eyes, panting slightly.

"Stop running off, it keeps making things worse," Botan mumbled before sitting down near the two already on the grassy floor.

"Surprised you found me. Didn't think you were any good at finding people. You always had to send …Kurama… to find me."

"Yeah, well, some people noticed you run by. I just asked around."

"And Tatou was making noise," Hiei muttered. Botan nodded absently, scratching Tatou's ear. Neither spoke for a while, turning over thoughts in their heads. Botan finally looked up.

"I know you had to have taken this as badly as everyone else. And you stayed away from people when it hurt the most. You've got problems that aren't going to be fixed over night and I think everyone there can understand that. But if you run and don't do anything how are you going to get better? Maybe if you work with someone, so you don't have to do everything, you can get better. Your leg could heal and you could get rid of the cane and maybe …maybe you could forgive yourself. Just a little, "a sniffle followed her comment, "then you could go back to being yourself, and then we can all get over this the best we can. What would they say if they saw us acting like this?"

"They're dead, Botan. They can't think anything of it because there's no reason for them to care about it! Get over this notion. There's nothing to change. I'm always like this! And I will not work with anyone! Ever again! Pull yourself together and go back to being _yourself_!" With that the tears started down Botan's face. Half heartedly, she moved her hands to hide herself. The sobbing came and Hiei didn't move. Didn't lose his resolve to this time do nothing as his persona dictated. But Tatou moved to Botan, nuzzling the distraught girl and giving an effort to cheer the Ferry Girl up as her companion didn't. Finally as the comfort was being accepted, Tatou turned her face to Hiei and, as Hiei was sure she could do, gave him the best dog impression of the evil eye. Hiei huffed a sigh and turned to Botan.

"Hey, I…" and stopped. He lowered his head, accepting the guilt that washed over him.

Sukuu

Sun high in the sky three days later found Hiei's unwanted new partner-for-the-moment standing in the lobby of the small task force building. As it was, feeling guilt for his treatment of Botan didn't mean that Hiei needed to accept the help of the girl he wanted nothing to do with. So Hikari, nerves showing through the biting of her lip, stood watching the door waiting for the chance to speak with the black haired yokai she was supposed to be working with. On the floor beside her, its residence since she'd tracked it down, was a brown box. Papers haphazardly stuck out in the quick effort made to stuff everything into a convenient space. Those papers were what little she had been able to request on her own with out Hiei's presence.

Looking through the contents, Hikari hadn't been as surprised as appalled at the lack of actual data. Almost everything said the same thing. _It's really no wonder they left finding these things to the Reikai Tantei. There's not a person they could assign it to that would have a real clue at hunting these things down. Which begs the question, why am I?_ She was new to this damn working environment. Fresh meat, as they could be routinely called. And the quickest to die when placed on things above their heads. The old hands of this job were the only ones for this type of case. This brought the question of Hiei and Botan to her mind. Was Hiei really an old hand of this job? Or did he simply have the experience from life? And Botan. Good lord, Hikari would've had to be blind not to notice the bubbly nature of the cotton candy eyed girl. Such natures were usually knocked straight out in the beginning days of introduction in one way or another. She'd heard enough stories to know.

Tapping her foot to relieve her nerves and spare her tattered lip, Hikari continued her wait. But it was more than likely fruitless to wait. Hiei had found everyway so far to bypass her, why should that fail today?

"Miss, Spirit?" a woman, from the American Branch help, tapped her on the shoulder. Hikari held back the cringe of being called 'miss' and nodded.

"We seem to have gotten some papers for you. I do believe that you were told not to tell your family where you were really going, correct? And unless I am in need of glasses, I think these are letters. Do not let there be a lapse in security again." Hikari hunkered down form the stares of the many around the lobby. And leave it to Hiei to walk into the room at that moment, Botan and dog in tow. He didn't lift so much as an eyebrow before stalking off in as dignified fashion as his cane still let. Hikari quietly picked up the box, still hunkered, and walked from the room avoiding eye contact.

She followed behind Hiei somewhat, still intent on talking to him at least a little. She had gotten the information after all. But the slightly blue hue of the envelope mocked her sitting on top of the box. Hunkering a little more so her auburn hair fell into her face she tried to come up with who she had actually told she was leaving. When she looked up, Hiei and Botan had disappeared from the hall. Looking around wildly, she spotted a door to her right. To her little remaining luck, Hiei and Botan were inside, and Tatou bounced on her knees as she entered.

Hiei barely looked at her when she set the box on the long table within the middle of the small team room.

"And that would be?" he asked disdainfully. He was making the attempt to keep the little amusement of the earlier display from his voice. There were few he'd met crazy enough to get into it with the security officers. Maybe there was more to the girl then he thought. The girl jumped with nervous green eyes, and gulped before answering.

"It's all the information they currently have on the demon we are after, Jaganshi-sama," she whispered softly, being as polite as she could. Hiei almost fell from the seat. He mentally took back the thought that the girl was worth something. Botan tried not to giggle, and Tatou huffed at the girl's feet, covering its nose with a paw in a very human like gesture.

"We already looked at that information. It's worthless. Unless you found something of value, leave. I haven't changed my mind about working with you. And I won't be changing it. Find some other way to be useful to the Japan Branch," Hiei darkly started. He said nothing more, and Hikari, shocked to an almost stand still, grabbed her letter and left the room with out the box.

"You're an ass," Botan whispered, but Hiei did nothing but stare out the window.

Hikari hung her head outside of the room, clutching the letter tightly. She turned down the hall and walked a ways before sitting against the cream colored wall and huffing a small sigh. Looking at the now crinkled blue envelope, Hikari tore it open with a vengeance, taking out the frustration she felt on the unfeeling paper rather then the first person she saw. With the first written word, Hikari inwardly groaned at who had gotten her in trouble.

_Hikari,_ the looping chicken scratch started. With no one but Hikari to see it, the writer had gone back to her infamous scrawl.

_I'm sorry! I lost my official thingy and it's probably gotten you into trouble! Hopefully a card fell out when you opened this letter, give it to the idiot who yelled and things should be fine. _Hikari sighed at her aunt's scrawled words, leaving it to her to not only lose her official seal but to call it a 'thingy' as well.

_I didn't get the chance to talk to you before you had to leave. Some one dragged me into a stupid meeting. And it wasn't even an important one either! Who cares if you order enough staples? They get lost in transit anyways. Any who…_Hikari zoned at the mention of her aunts status. Hikari stood, mind still reeling. Then she laughed, each getting harder and a little more manic as she figured a quicker plan to help Hiei. And a much better use of the card lying on the floor at her feet.

"Now if I was a direct line, where would I be?" and she bolted down the hall, card in her pocket and a Cheshire Cat grin plastered on her face.

Sukuu

Hiei looked resolutely at the wall to his right to avoid not only the looks Botan gave him but the ones he was earning from Tatou.

"Why won't you give her the benefit -?" Botan half demanded. Hiei turned his eyes towards her.

"Give her the benefit of what? I don't give anyone any sort of benefit. Anyone. I will not work with her. I will find this demon myself and she can stay here. It works just fine." Her brow furrowing, Botan brought the brown box to her. Slowly she started shifting through the different papers. Checking the names of who had filed it, she placed them into piles, almost unaware of Hiei stealing them from the pile of those she didn't recognize.

Hiei went through each of the papers Botan set out, but the information wasn't new, every by word account had been right. Those previously placed on this particular case had had no experience with the type of case it was. None were about to go running out and attack the demon the moment they found it. As far as Hiei knew, only one person hired by the Reikai was stupid enough to that, and he was dead. Shaking his head at the stupidity of the Japanese Branch of relying so heavily on the tentai, Hiei tried to ignore the knock that came on the door. He was almost positive it was Hikari, trying to extract an apology or something of the sort.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for one," a slight pause and a rustling of paper, "Jaganshi Hiei? I have some papers that need tra-." Hiei shot up from his seat.

"Botan, leave."

"What?!"

"Leave!" Hiei half spat, and Botan reluctantly started for the door, the man who had brought the papers slightly cowering in the door way. Once the man was in and Botan stood in the hall, the door closed and Botan was left out of the newest action. By now the feeling somewhat used to this action, Botan waited for a moment before sounds inside the room caught her attention and she watched the door worriedly. It was like this for several long moments, before finally after the third person went down the hall and stared at the door, the man left, half fuming.

"Did you see the way that thing was looking at you?" he muttered to Botan as he passed. His cowering had had nothing to do with Hiei, but the human like expressions of the dog at his heels. When she walked back into the room, Hiei sat in his chair again, glaring angrily at a new stack of papers before him, some folders also stuck with them.

"What was that all about? Are we being assigned something else?" He shook his head, gathering up the new papers and those from the pile he had been reading and began to leave.

"Its nothing that concerns you," he said with out looking at her. Tatou followed at his heels, looking to Hiei's face as he left. Botan stood there for a moment, lost and confused as to what had been brought in that had changed things. Finally she started to follow him, the same routine as the last few days.

--

Alone for the first time that day, Hiei glared again at the papers the man had dropped at the table in front of him. So many papers….surely they had someone with less on their hands to do this. Sure it might take a few people to get through it all, but it would certainly go faster then just him with this other case to work on. Which wasn't going any where very fast. Sure they had set a few more people besides Hikari, Botan, and him on it, but none were doing much better that Hiei knew of. And they wouldn't if they kept up this mandatory morning meeting to go over what they had found the previous day. It took more then a day to find things and often in the experience of himself and others, if you stopped for anything when you were on a roll, you lost what you had almost found.

And so, he was now forced to do an extra job and try to piece together what would have a challenging job for the Tantei themselves. And they worked together better then most of the mish massed group now trying did. Flipping open a single report slightly different then the many he had already read, he set about trying to piece together in his scattered mind what this demon was really doing. The other annoyances could wait. But reading a bare three lines told him just how bad he was at this particular aspect.

"Kurama was better at this," he whispered, turning to the framed picture from Shiori. It hardly left his sight. Forcing himself back to the paper to forget the beginnings of the accident, he tried to comprise a list of what he did know.

First the demon was only attacking at night so far. Off hand Hiei could think of a few nocturnal species of demons that could be the culprit just off of that. But no one was about the rule out the idea that the demon was simply more accustomed to killing at night. More comfortable. More dangerous that way too. More often Hiei had found, humans were alone and afraid at night. Another reason he couldn't often stand them.

The second thing that was for sure was the demon had a "type" in a sense. Mostly women attacked, though there was a pair of men that were reported to almost never leave the side of two of the women. One's brother, the other her husband. This demon wanted the women. Blonde, tall, active women. The ones that would fight back and give him a thrill. But he did nothing more then kill them. Nothing else.

Third was that so far no one had figured out how he was killing them. There were no traces of anything in their systems; no stab wounds or strangulation marks. Their deaths were not bloody. But they probably weren't quick either.

Tatou jumped into his lap, looking at the reports as he did. Then she pawed at the other papers questioningly.

"Because they're idiots. Absolute morons, who don't understand a process if it bit them." Tatou bared her fangs with a little snap.

"Yeah, you would bite them for me, ne?" Hiei scratched the little thing's ears, putting his head in his other hand.

"They asked for the US Branch for help. They shouldn't have needed to. There should still be enough agents in Japan with demon experience that could take care of this safely." Unless an American had been a victim, then they would have wanted to help. No, since most had been blonde, many had actually been tourists. Hardly a Japanese life had been taken. His stomach churned at the next idea.

"Unless," he started to Tatou, "there are more attacks then can be handled." He'd heard no indication of this. But if the surge in demons was because of Yusuke's death, the demons "boogieman", then it was possible. No one would tell him. Not since the deaths were so recent. They would pity him before they let him damage his mental state more.

"I hate people who stick their noses into other people's business." Tatou yipped in a yes fashion. And so incompetents were in charge of a large case and tourists were at risk all because the "boogieman" was dead.

--

Another week. Three more dead. Another male, two more women, the male only seven. As if this wasn't getting to his mental state as well. Frustrated, with little else he could actually do, he'd started work on the papers the man had dropped off. All of it left Botan worrying. Having steadied herself for the oncoming anger, she'd left for the Reikai. She hoped Koenma could get him off of this and give him more time to recover. As she saw it, he clearly needed it.

Hiei on the other hand, was left wondering where the hell she had gone. As he finished up the third of seventeen different papers, Hiei looked to the clock across the room. It read past midnight, and his body confirmed it. He could now only go a few days without sleep before it caught up with him. As if his body was still trying to heal his leg in vain, as far as he was concerned. Whether or not he could stay though wasn't a question. Seeing as he was in the side of the building made to look normal to outsiders, it was closed after a certain time at night. The other half was more then likely still bustling with activity. Unable to stand the amount of people for this kind of work, Hiei had snuck to this side as it was being shut down. Unfortunately, this area was about to be cleaned by a women with no sense of time and a white and black sense of rules. If he didn't leave now, he'd be stuck at the mercy of crazies longer then he could handle. Gathering his papers and locating his cane, he shooed Tatou out of the room before surveying it. Anything left behind would make suspicion.

When he was sure nothing was left to betray his presence, he checked for Tatou once more, not caring for the repeat of leaving her behind and explaining teeth and claw marks. Shooing the brown fuzz ball down the hall, trying not to make too much noise with his cane, Hiei managed his escape none too soon. Stalking down the streets to where they had set him up, Hiei's mind wandered to the missing "partner" he hadn't seen in about a week. The last time she had simply been trying to find out where she could find if she needed to. After refusing to answer for the length of three hours she had given up and left. If his luck stayed for a while longer, he wouldn't hear from her again for the duration of this thing. As it was, a separate group was sure they had figured out what the demon was trying to do and how to stop him. They were in the mists of making a plan to capture it as he walked.

Two and half blocks from his destination, his luck ran short. The thumping of tennis shoes on the sidewalk sounded. Turning to see what or who the noise maker was, he was greeted by Hikari, who breathed hard looking at him with a bit of egotistic triumph. Eyes narrowing, Hiei looked her over to spot the large file held in her hand.

"What is it you want? More worthless files?" Still struggling for her breath, Hikari shook her head.

"I….found….something ..on the demon. I…got it…from my aunt. I know how …he's killing them."

"Oh really now? Some how, you and your aunt managed to figure out what fourteen others haven't?"

"No my father figured it out. It's a poison."

"Aren't you supposed to be good with poisons?"

"Everything I know is from my father. This poison doesn't leave a trace. It's deadly if you can't get the antidote, and it weakens the person. While you could find the antidote easily, once you're poisoned, your chances are lower that you'll have enough energy to find the ingredients."

"The ingredients for the poison itself, what are they?"

"No one knew off hand, but it's in the report, if they did as was requested. The only thing that they did know for sure is that all of it only grows in the dark and often can only be identified at night."

"Makes sense why he would attack at night then. Must want to see the suffering. What's in the rest of the file?" Hiei made it sound as though he forced out his questions in a polite manner, but the girl really had done some good work. Used her resources. Even if the higher ups wouldn't like it.

"Tomorrow, we bring this up. The others have it almost completely wrong," Hikari started.

"Yes they do. We go back now."

"Shouldn't we wait for morning? They always say that people are better in the morning!" Hikari called as Hiei started back towards the building he'd left.

"And give him more time? You said it yourself, at night he can be out getting this poison. More time we give him, the more people he will kill." Suddenly Hikari was smiling.

"What?"

"Nothing," Hikari shook her head, "You're just acting like this ex agent my aunt said she worked with once. She talked about him a lot."

"Pretty sure that one didn't have a cane."

"Yeah well, neither did you un-." Hiei turned back at the abrupt stop, but Hikari wasn't there. Looking across the street and down in front of him, but the auburn haired girl wasn't there either. Looking to the roof tops and sky, a paralyzing understanding flooded through him. The demon was here, and with the opening of the Jagan he could sense it for the moment before he hid it well. Unable to trust the direction the Jagan had given, he continued his search, calling softly and swiftly to Tatou.

"Find him," and Tatou's nose was in the air and she raced in the opposite direction the aura had originally come from. Keeping cane in hand, Hiei followed the brown tracker.

Down the streets and through alleys, he followed every sudden change in Tatou's movements. Ten minutes later, as the pain in his right leg threatened to cause collapse, he spotted the large form of the demon a mere block away. Hunched like a cat, fur on end, Tatou growled endlessly with salvia falling from her jowls to the sidewalk. The demon's lips were split into a feral grin, fangs predominate in his mouth. A humanesque appearance, he was almost too tall and burly to be really thought of as a human. The normally white area of the eye was yellowish, and the skin a mottled grayish color. The darkness hid the obvious things that couldn't be human. The waxing moon behind him shed enough light to show the problems to Hiei's eyes. Hikari was held over one shoulder, an apparent daze about her.

A laugh started; a deep whistling sound. The demon though didn't speak. Tatou tensed as much as Hiei did at the sound. Any movement on the demon's part and both would move from the built up tension. But the demon didn't move, only let go the whistling laugh. Hikari let loose a small noise her daze.

It took hardly any movement before the demon had stuck her with an object previously enclosed in his right hand. Hikari's incoherent yelp broke the tension the small movement hadn't. Both rushed the demon, Tatou slightly ahead of her master. But just as the animal almost made it to Hikari and the demon, a sudden feeling swept through her small body and torn between two actions and duties, Tatou's green eyes watched Hiei fall to the concrete. The gray demon disappeared to a rooftop.

Hiei clutched his right leg, face contorted in pain that had caused him to fall. Looking to Tatou, who was growling again focused on a rooftop, Hiei looked back to the demon and Hikari's slack body.

"Be a warning, this one," he said, voice whistling like his laugh. And he was gone, using the rooftops to head out of town and away. Eyes widening, pain forgotten, the reality sunk in as did the cool touch of the concrete. The clicking of Tatou's extended nails didn't shake him out. The file in his hand was just as equally forgotten. Tatou nudged him. With that pulling him back, He clutched the file before looking at it. Inside was all the information gathered on the demon Hikari had found. Now the _thing_ had her, and he wasn't sure how long he had to get her back before Hikari joined the list of people he'd gotten killed.

Sukuu

Finally this is completed!!! I salute you who waited. Hope that rose to expectations. The best news about this delay is though that a giant plot monster grabbed me! It's a relative to the plot bunny. The bunny gives you the e incompletely idea, the monster fills in the hard to find blanks. So I have a great idea on where this is going and hopefully the next will be up sooner then this. But if another big creative project shows up I make no promises.

Review please


	6. Night Poisonor

_"…__Many weeks passed before any progress was made in the case. The outbreak of demon related attacks following the deaths of the Reikai__'__s Tantei was expected, the demons found little reason to not try every attack possible on the now defenseless Ningenkai. The Tantei were the first line of defense, or otherwise the ones taking care of the larger threats. It had put the Japan Branch of the organization out of practice. Only our __"__old hands__"__ had, or even have, a good idea of what they were doing. With the poisoning of many tourists and such in and around a small town, and forced to bring in an eclectic group from the American Branch, there was not much more the people in charge of this particular Headquarters__'__ thought could go wrong. Up until the kidnapping of one of the Americans. Hikari Spirit was taken by the Night Poison__o__r, and while another on the team, Jaganshi Hiei went after the demon, with his limp and the after effects of the Tentai__'__s deaths there were few who trusted him. His mental state would__'__ve been a better focus__…"_

_-from the official journals of a tech on the Night Poisonor case._

Chapter 5; Night Poisonor

The concrete was harder then it looked, despite his knowledge that it was made of stone. And of course he would know too, as in his trek back to the Headquarters he'd fallen on his back and face enough times. Even with the cane. And Tatou's constant help. It was like learning to walk all over again. It was from shock and confusing thoughts that he forgot how to put on foot in front of the crippled other. The demon, his inabilities and Hikari, he wasn't up for thinking of what he would do if she died because they'd gotten too close to the damn poisoning idiot. But that was nothing to think about now, as getting to the building had only been getting harder for that last two blocks. He stopped, leaning against a building, taking deep breaths, and staring at the inquisitive Tatou. A plan flashed into his head.

He sat stiffly at the side of the closed building and took a paper from the manila folder. He looked at it for a moment, the few words that registered spoke of poison, ingredients and effects. He dug in his pocket with a furious rhythm and was only triumphant when he pulled a pen he's stuck in there at one point or another in the day. He scribbled, for that was the most his handwriting looked like with his hand shaking as it did, in the margin of the paper. Sentences were short and choppy but the point would get across, hopefully. He folded the paper, and took another look at Tatou, who panted at his side, before yanking off his belt. He fastened it the best he could to the animal and made the paper stick from between Tatou's body and the leather of the belt.

"Headquarters, to someone who looks like they know what their doing, and please make sure they're really awake." The animal snorted and then dashed off as instructed. He watched her dash off, before pulling himself upright, and leaning on his life line of a cane. Information was always so much more useful if it got the right person as fast as possible, after all.

--

To say that the people inside the Headquarters were at least slightly functional as Tatou bounded in with all her usual bounce would have been a great and tragic lie. Many had been downing coffee for hours by this point, others simply ingesting large amounts of caffeine earlier in the day. The side effects of both were catching up to the skeleton crew making up the little team inside the building. At first Tatou simply was going to drop the little paper her owner had given to her at the desk of the first awake person. She did know the difference, at least by now. But when that man snored, she found that a few had somehow perfected the art of sleeping with their eyes open. The next shuffled so feebly from that room to the next, there was no doubt the woman was on auto pilot and had been so for some time.

Tatou wanted to slump to the ground, but the look on her owner's face, the girl she hadn't been able to keep up with, a conscience that had been growing in the back of her mind for years wouldn't allow her to do such a thing. And as she began to move, to search for someone that enjoyed the night life, a person stopped beside her. While Tatou had little understanding of the concept of luck, she did know when it smiled upon her.  
Smiling kindly upon her was the head of the small building, and before the older gentleman could react to the small animal inside his conference room, Tatou had presented her paper to him.

When Fujisaki Akio had been presented a crumple paper written on in the margin, he'd barely thought he had time for it. But the word _poison_ caught his eye in the printed text and in the scribbled hand, _kidnapped_.

He politely tore the paper form his headman's hands and scanned it quickly. The poison topic was truly fascinating. Even more so, when things clicked in his sleepy and muddled mind. The case he was assigned to made sense in a sudden and wonderfully clear instant.

"He's using poison…" A giddy-ness enveloped him. "He's using _poison_!!" He was shouting, and drew the looks of his comrades, those just as perplexed by their case as anyone else.

"Who's using poison?" the woman to his left whispered, she was daring to hope, it was in her large brown eyes.

"Who do you think?" Akio felt manic at this discovery. He hugged the woman, who was instantaneously boneless from the weight of what had been said. There was a sudden whirlwind of activity, and the headman smiled gently. There was talk of plans of attack, of antidotes and more sudden hugging in the relief no one had believed would come until now.

"Take that you Americans! We did it without _your damn help!_" This only brought more cheering, for there had not been a single one in this small Japanese Headquarters that had been happy to take help from the American Branch in their Branch's own problems. Especially in the matter of demon attacks. After all, how could a country that didn't deal with such things as often as they did know anything at all?

Tatou watched this from her place beside the now worried Headman. Had she given the paper to the wrong people? They didn't seem to be acting as she thought they would.

The Headman hadn't wanted to worry anyone when he'd walked in with the paper from the animal he'd recognized as being around the short, black haired former Tentai. He'd given the paper to one of his most dedicated people on the case, expecting to be able to explain that the kidnapping was a priority. But now, his voice was drowned from the room, and he couldn't get control back as more joined in. The note had been forgotten by the excited Akio. Feeling as though he had little other choice, he started to small offices the Americans had been using, to bring bad news with out a plan of attack.

--

When Hiei finally managed to make his way into the offices, damn near sun up if he was estimating right, he found the whirlwind of activity he'd been expecting but the people were not an intermingled task force of Japanese and Americans. In fact he saw none of the American transplants, and most talk was simply revolving around poison. Just as he was about to step inside the chaotic group a hand, hesitant and tense, was placed on his shoulder, and Tatou bounded over to him to sit almost sadly at his feet. He looked to the owner of the hand to stare directly at the Headman, who tightened his grip and began to direct him out of the room and into a smaller, less happy room. A majority of the Americans sat or stood in the room. Each looked grave, worried. Tatou pushed against his leg, and looked up to him trying to say with her eyes that she'd done what he'd asked, but the results hadn't been what he'd wanted.

"Is no one going to go after her?" He let the question hang in the air; he had kept his voice passive. Even he didn't want to think about how this was affecting his state of mind.

"Ya'll have seen the chaos that's out there. We haven't gotten to make any kind of proposal to them about her kidnappin'." Hiei turned to look at the Texan Division Head standing in the doorway. Her translator stood outside the door, ready to step in should he be needed. Elizabeth Turner looked much less enthused by the case then she had been a few weeks before. It was understandable. She had the reputation of considering anyone under her command, for however short a period it was, as family and good friends. In a way this was a personal attack on her as much as it was on the actual victim.

"I can put a stop to it right now-" the Headman looked years older standing there.

"That might just make it worse for us honestly. She's with the damn poisonor, and they happen to be working on finding him. Stopping them will just set that back." There were nods from various people in the room at the reasoning of one of the senior agents.

Turner nodded,

"If we stop them, and they're close to something, they may take even longer to get to it when they start up again. We can find out what exactly happened though." She turned to Hiei. _Well that finally explains why I__'__m here. _The rest in the room had also turned to him by now. Tatou nudged his hand and he started his recount stiffly. The room was only more tense by the end of it.

Sukuu

He was dismissed quickly after telling of the night's happenings. Sitting on the steps outside the building, unable to take the commotion inside anymore, Hiei was forced to try and find what he could honestly do. Tatou was in front of him, chasing a bug on the sidewalk. Watching her for a few more moments, he stood leaning against his cane in an ease he was loath to develop. A soft whistle and the brown animal raced over to him. She looked up at him, large ears flicking.

"You remember where he took her?" A whine answered him.

"Lead the way then." She looked at him, and with a huff started down the road. Really, she was much too high strung. He really wouldn't have it any other way. Passing the townsfolk, happy for the new day and its activities should you choose to ignore the school age group, was almost disheartening. If the streets were empty things would feel so much more right. Less contradicting and easier to follow the path he needed too. But as it was Hiei couldn't just make all of them disappear and kept his eyes to the ground to ignore everything but Tatou. Finally they found the place, an alleyway in the bright daylight. There was nothing, nothing at all. There had been no actual fighting, nothing to leave so much as a scratch on the building walls.

"Do you smell anything? Anything at all?" Tatou had taken up sniffing at the ground and she hadn't stopped yet, a hopeful sign. After moment in a single spot, she lifted her head, but before the strange interaction between the two could continue a voice startled them both.

"Hiei! What are you doing out here?! Have you even been back to the building? They have a breakthrough with the poison and-," Botan stopped her thought right there and then as Hiei sent her a glare she was almost stupidly happy to see. Feeling an eye twitch Hiei forced himself not to do anything to the sky haired woman. He'd regret it later if he did and not just because he'd be hurting her either.

"I know Botan. They know what the poison is, but more has happened then that. Hi-," This time Botan stopped him.

"No, it's even better then that! They actually found where the main ingredient of the poison is growing around here. Whoever's doing this must be visiting that spot often and- wait a second, what else happened?" But Hiei didn't answer her; he was already heading back towards the headquarters with Tatou scrambling behind him.

"Hiei, what else happened?!"

" The demon took someone to make an example, an agent."

"What?!" But Hiei wouldn't answer anymore and continued his hurried movements down to road. She soon followed after.

--

Entering the hustle and bustle of the common room at the headquarters for a second time proved easier then the first had been. With the renewed purpose and direction of their efforts they were crowding at intervals around screens, taking in the sight of the plant giving their guy the means to his ends. Turner motioned to them as they entered, standing in a farther off area quietly starting the spread of the news. Some mildly horrified agents were nodding after what she said and then hurried off out of the room. As Hiei and Botan walked closer, Turner let go a deep breath, squashing her hat farther down on her head.

"Who did he take?" Botan whispered, keeping her voice low in the racket. Turner answered straight away, her translator jumped to attention providing for the Japanese only audience.

"Spirit, I've started to inform a few people. The one's who know this area the best, whoever might know the hiding places around where the flowers grow." _Flowers__…_ It almost echoed in Hiei's head. No this wasn't a case for the expertise he had. Turning his head to the nearest screen, he caught sight of the flower in all its deadly glory. Pale as the moonlight it opened its petals to, lavender in its simple center. It looked innocuous, a beautiful flower the locals had only used for decoration.

"Hikari?" Botan breathed. Tuner nodded.

"It doesn't look like something that could kill, does it?" Hiei mumbled softly causing Tatou to lower her ears and curl about his leg.

"The flower itself isn't poisonous. Mixed with the secondary ingredients though,

its effects are lethal and slow."Hiei turned to the Texan, a slight smile graced her features,

"We've finally got a good article on it just before you showed back up. It sounds nasty…," she clenched her fists, "I want my agent back." She didn't say anything more and they stood there in silence for a long moment. Hiei broke the stillness the three had fallen into, shaking Tatou from around his leg, and walking from the room. Botan reached for him before thinking better of it.

"Hiei?"

"There's nothing he can do," Botan turned to Elizabeth, "There's almost nothing any of us here can do. This is a hostage situation; this isn't something that's within any of our expertise." Hiei nearly winced at this; it wasn't something he wanted to hear. He felt useless, knew he was. Without the smallest amount of trust in his mental state, he wasn't going to get anywhere. But he'd be damned if he wasn't going to keep an ear to the ground and eyes wide open for any opportunity to fix _his_ mistake. Tatou looked at him. A nod later he was hidden beside the common room door waiting for his chance. The jagan was open, working as under the radar as possible. Tatou pulled off an intricate dance within the room. And they waited.

Sukuu

Midnight came and passed. She was awake but barely. She couldn't open her eyes, and her mind played tricks on her, fancying that she could feel the spread of the slow working poison. It left her body sweating in a fever like heat with the terribly dull ache of sickness. But this couldn't be the worst of it if this poison was supposed to make the infected last for days. The hostage could hear the demon walking around her often. He had yet to try anything, waiting no doubt until she was surely too far gone before he tried anything. He'd make a point through her, that he would.

Demons no longer feared hunting in the human world.

--

"What do you mean?!"

"Exactly what it sounds like Botan. There is no help I can give them. There is no help anyone from the Reikai can give them." Koenma couldn't look her in the eye, he kept his gaze to his desk. Botan's shoulders sagged, she'd hoped, prayed that Koenma would be able to aide them in finding Hikari. She hadn't been able to find Hiei for hours and had felt more then useless herself watching so many people working so hard to fix this tragedy.

"I'm sorry Botan. Part of the way this organization works is that they help us, but we do not interfere with their methods. Its why they still exist, otherwise we would have stopped them long ago. There are so many in their ranks that stupid isn't a strong enough word to describe disbanding them. Especially now." Botan nodded and before Koenma could say anything else in attempt to consol, she had left the room. Koenma slumped in his chair and let go a deep sigh. Supporting his head in his hands, he couldn't not feel worse then lousy. He wished he could, hell he wanted to. If not for Botan, then for the only surviving Tantei. Oh, how he wished he'd found transportation back home for them all instead of only one ever getting back.

Botan kept her head low as she moved past the Oni and other Guides throughout the halls of the Reikai. She wanted little to do with those around her. She wanted nothing but to get out of there and lend whatever hand she could to the cause of finding the poor girl. And stopping that demon. As a fellow Guide approached her, she came to the decision of getting out of there as fast as possible. She broke into a run and left the Reikai without a second thought.

The blue haired Guide jumped from her oar a good two feet from the ground and made a brisk jog into the headquarters again. It was strangely becoming a familiar routine. Instead of finding the hustle of worried agents, the cotton candy eyed woman found nearly all of them crowded into one room, a briefing filling the air. Hiei was just outside the door, obvious listening in, Tatou curled at his feet. She didn't say anything to him, just began to listen to words being said. No need to cause them both to miss something important. For the moment though it seemed to only be the agents reporting in on findings, no two facts yet put together, no big picture being painted. Botan took one more look at Hiei before stepping into the room to hear better as finally they moved on.

"Okay, by all reports there are two places with a guaranteed high amount of the most important ingredient this guy has to get, and apparently on a rather regular practice. It seems that by all accounts the time between picking the flower and using it in the poison is an extremely small window of time, so these areas would be the most likely places to start from to find where he is hiding." There were some murmured nods and agreements.

"The first of these areas is west of town a near mile out. The second is northeast of this very building by a half mile. Unfortunately neither site shows signs of being picked over in the past weeks. We're going to dispatch a majority of people to these two sites but we are also going to send a few smaller groups out, just in case he isn't using either of these two places. I am going to say this now and again when the groups have been made. If you find him, or a place that looks promising, call in the other teams and do not engage him until you've got back up. If the entire group finds him, do your best to keep him there. I'm not going to sugar coat this any, we've only got a couple more days before we're looking for a body. Or one gets sent to us." The agents began to stand, talk and ask questions. Slowly the groups were being formed, directions given and people began to disperse. Botan moved from the door further inside as they began to leave. The Headman looked up to her and nodded.

"I need to speak with both you and Hiei." Botan nodded and turned back to the doorway, peered out and found Hiei gone.

Sukuu

He had stood to make his escape as soon as the two locations had been revealed, mind barely taking in the warnings that came next. He had stopped only to take the paper forced on him by Tatou's strange insistence. Tatou bounded lively at his side keeping time as his forced his crippled limb to its limits to leave the building long before detection. All logical thought told him to head to the west, to the location farthest from the Organization Headquarters. Operating in the agents backyard would not only be daring but dangerous, the location west of town would be ideal for keeping hidden as long as possible for the killer. But his gut, and Tatou, told him to head northeast towards the second location, the closer. Cane in hand and with Tatou's nose to the ground as she ran, already searching the scent she wanted, they made a beeline for the grove of pearl flowers.

They hadn't quite reached the grove when Tatou stopped, moving in quick circles as her nose picked up the scent from the alleyway. Hiei stopped a yard from the animal, clutching at his cane tightly, waiting for Tatou to pick up the scent and lead him to the demon. And she did, her head rose from the ground and forest eyes locked with his garnets. Without a sign, the two began to move out again, a little more north then before. His mind raced as he followed Tatou. This demon had already demonstrated speed and also had Hikari, would no doubt use her as a shield if not use her to stop his attacking all together. That is, if his leg didn't give out before he even got to him. His cane was a solid reminder of that chance. He could, if he found the place, send Tatou back for 'reinforcements'. But Tatou could also be of help to him. Trade offs and he wasn't sure which to make.

He didn't have time to think any longer though. Tatou had stopped, sitting now in front of a cave like opening, the entrance the height of a grown man. Looking at the dark of the cave, he forced himself to make a decision. Compromise.

"If things get bad…..head back for someone. I'm fixing my mistake." Tatou didn't follow him straight away when Hiei moved toward the cave like entrance. Taking a quick look back, she followed him in. With light from the outside, they could walk a good ways in before the path before them was hard to see. When it was finally too dark, Hiei pulled forth an extremely small flame, forcing himself to put out a very small amount of energy. They continued forward, finding this cave structure to much larger, deeper then expected. There was no encountering others or different light sources yet, they stayed quiet and waited to find their hunter.

He found them first. The fire demon's only warning was Tatou's growl, giving him just enough time to dodge the first blow. Hiei's flame went out. He knew he could find the demon again with the jagan, but before he could put the idea into action, the demon spoke to him.

"I see you came for her. Foolish." Hiei didn't answer the barb, but opened the jagan, bandana falling to the rocky floor. Tatou's growls reverberated off the walls. He had no sword, but that wasn't a cause for concern. In the cramped space and his condition, he doubted a sword could be wielded with results anyways.

"It appears I will be making an example of not only her but you as well. No demon fears hunting in the human world now, we will not be stopped." And then there was a grunt. Tatou's growls had stopped, and no doubt she had bitten the demon as he stood shooting the breeze. Gathering _ki_ into his fists, he located his opponent and began the offensive. Within the cramped quarters the fight was more of a ruff and tumble brawl. On a number of occasions Hiei found himself unintentionally kicking his opponent in attempts to land safely on the rocky floor. With luck this would actually work in his favor. Intermittent hisses signaled Tatou's part of claws and teeth.

In a sudden reversal, the fire demon found himself unable to get around his attacker, dodging strikes and stumbling over unseen rock formations. The farther back he was forced the more light began to leak into the tunnel and in the inky blackness reveal the demon. They had been finally forced into his chamber. There was a fire burning, lighting the place, tools and ingredients scattered about catching Hiei's eye. And Hikari. She was farther back, out of the way and Hiei intended to keep it that way. The demon chuckled at him. His grayish skin made him look dead, his eyes were big, obviously useful for seeing through the darkness he hunted in. Tatou moved from biting their demonic adversary to standing between the fight and Hikari's prone form. She was breathing, the small animal noted. Her attention was taken away from the hostage as Hiei slammed into the wall, cane flying across the room. When Hiei didn't get back up straight away, instead grasping at his crippled right leg, Tatou's heart pounded in a harsh, syncopated rhythm.

_"If things get bad….."_ Tatou saw her opening and ran.

The pain that traveled up his leg was all too familiar. His vision doubled for a moment, he watched two attackers approach him and then merge into one. He rolled out of the way as another fist came towards him. Hiei cursed himself for the path this fight was taking. This demon was by no means normally strong enough to even be that much of a threat. But here, now, they may as well have been even. Whether it be terrain or pain, it wasn't acceptable. In the next exchange of blows and blocks, he found his shirt ripped and torn by rock and claws. The poison's ingredients flew with the blows, the pearl flowers falling around him, petals a beautiful whirlwind contradicting the savagery.

A clattering at his side drew Hiei's attention as his opponent stood all the way across the room. It was a small knife, gleaming and sharp. He wasted no thought, grabbing it and as the demon charged him, plunging it through fabric, skin, and muscle, bypassing ribs and into the heart. The demon began to fall, and Hiei pulled the knife back out, blood coating his hands. Its warmth was not foreign to him, but it didn't stop him from pulling off his scraped shirt and wiped his hands clean. Auburn hair caught his eyes. He moved to Hikari, limping badly, the body forgotten. Dropping to her side, he took in her state, skin apparently layered in sweat, breathing as though plagued with a cold. But her eyes opened, almost stickily. With a wheezy chuckle she smiled shakily at him. Overwhelmed with relief, this could still be fixed, his garnet eyes closed and he let go a deep breath.

"Shit! The poison!" Hiei felt the relief be replaced with sudden loathing for not thinking things through, his chance was going to slip through his fingers.

"If you have the antidote…..things will be okay…." _The antidote! Like I can make a damn _antidote He moved back trying to think, and something crackled in his pocket. The paper Tatou had forced him to take…He took it from his pocket and unfurled it. The heading read "Antidote Directions" in bold…..it was the directions, he _could_ fix this. A majority of things needed were in the original poison, but could he make it? Hiei wouldn't get the chance to find out.

"I've got the antidote…..they sent it with the poison description…..but it needs one more thing….."

"Yeah?"

"Pollen, from the flower he was using to make it….it's the root that's poisonous with the rest…." Hiei nodded, and then her eyes closed.

Sukuu

When the second party made it through the fight ruined cave to the two still living inside, Tatou at it's lead, they came upon a strange sight. An empty vial lay beside the two, Hikari's head laying in Hiei's lap. He absentmindedly fooled with her hair, a overly weary look on his face. His cane still lay across the room, close to the demon's body. Elizabeth Turner pushed her way through the group, and just stared at the scene.

"She's alive?" they got no answer from Hiei, but Tatou was closer to the two, giving what could be taken as a nod. Everything was silent for a moment, nothing happening, no one talking.

"Take all supplies out of this cave, get the body and dispose of it. Then leave back to the Headquarters and write up your reports. Now, people." There was some grumbling, a couple who wanted to check both people for injuries, but the Texan forced all out. She only allowed Botan in again and let her stand there as they waited for Hiei to snap out of what ever he was in. Talking to him did no good, it was as if he didn't hear them. Elizabeth sighed and turned to Botan, a suggestion on her lips that the Guide go back and she would stay, that her translator wasn't there slipped her mind.

_"Just watch…."_ With a start both turned back to him.

_"Watch what, sugar?" _Botan looked in confusion at both, unable to follow the conversation.

_"She's gonna make an old hand real soon. I know it."_

_"Really now? Old hands ain't known for taken orders, and that's all this girl knows to do."_ A smirk came to Hiei's face.

_"If that's what you think." _Tatou barked, a agent following her in. Turner took action.

_"Please take Miss Spirit out of here." _The agent did as requested and quickly only Turner, Botan, Hiei and Tatou were left with in the bloodied and ruined cave room. Tatou fetched the cane and with what was left of his dignity and pride, Hiei staggered out of the cave with it's help, lighting the way with his _ki_. Turner shook her head.

_He'll never work in Japan again._

--Transmission ended--

I have three things to stat here:

1) I am so sorry about the long wait. I had to many stories to do, but I've made this my main one, partially cause it needs the least fixing and by writing this I'm getting a sense for story and more on my characters too. Go with me on this.

2) Do not think that Hiei's suddenly going for 'Kari there. In his current state of mind, the fact that she was taken literally behind his back, is his mistake. One that he can fix unlike the car accident. This is still Kurama/Hiei despite earlier chapters.

3) The italics mean another language, in this case English since they are in Japan. I'll try to make it obvious what language it is, cause this'll happen a lot. Also any other confusion (and you can point it out in your comment) may be there because it will be explained later. Part of the plot people. Also, to avoid another awaurd review, there are going to be alot of original characters, I hoped it was obvious. It's still about Hiei, but if another is needed to push the story along, you bet I'm going to do it. Please review!


	7. Never to Go Back

-1_Hit the road, pack up and leave, make like a banana and split…It ain't hard, but it ain't easier either. Sometimes it's your choice, sometimes its beyond your control. Kicked out of your home because your parents don't get it, walking out because you can't take the looks from that person you _loved _any longer, unable to stay just because the memories are too much to take anymore. But in doing this, in this act of leaving and forcing your head to stay on the path forward, closing this chapter with an unchangeable 'the end', burning your bridges so you can't even dream of going back, you start the next chapter with a big ol' letter, you find the first log for the new bridge. Then you step off the road, unpack, and settle back into life. Whether this takes days or years, you learn, you adapt and you keep going. Live life and wait for your next turning point. That's how people go on._

_Chapter 6; Never to Go Back_

His leg hurt. Not the right one, the left. He'd probably been laying on it wrong for that last few hours…or maybe all night. Hiei didn't know if it was night or day, there was no clock he could see and his eyes felt glued shut. Though he wasn't actually trying to open then, anyways. He'd only see a mass of blankets. Indeed he was cocooned in them, as many as he, or had it been someone else, could find. Some were bundled pillow-like under his head, and Hiei wouldn't be lying if he said it was so warm where he was, there was no need to heat his body. For the first time is so long, he thought nothing of it. Tatou snorted below him. She had a bed of blankets as well that he knew he'd put down for her in a moment of sympathy for the weary animal. As for himself, Hiei remembered flopping down on the couch but little else after.

As strange as it was for Hiei to be lost beneath pile upon pile of blankets, he was finally feeling rested, and wasn't feeling pain from his leg, until he'd slept wrong on the left, that is. He'd come back to his hideaway, his 'leased for the operation' home, a few hours after finally bringing Hikari safely back to the Headquarters building. As far as he knew that was where she still was, that was where the majority of all the people who had been working non stop for at least thirty two hours were. He'd been stopped and patched up almost by order upn his beeline to get out of the congested building as fast as possible. Now he had little reason to return and he wanted to even less. But as he moved some to fall back into his dreamless sleep, now off his left leg, there was knocking at the door. Tatou huffed on the floor, but there was no sound to indicate that she was moving. The knocking stopped after a moment. Hiei let his body relax again, and fell back to sleep.

Knocking jerked him from sleep after a while, this time accompanied with the huffing and slight whines from Tatou. She sounded to be no longer near her bed, and with a great deal of force he finally got off the couch. Tatou stood across the room at the entryway, nearer to the knocking. Hiei rubbed his eyes, and looked for the nearest clock which stood ticking a few feet from him. Now either he'd only slept fifteen minutes, or he'd been dead to the world twenty four hours at least. Unnerved by the idea of being so far gone for so long, Hiei moved from the couch-bed feeling his right leg go stiff on him. He stumbled some but didn't reach for his cane, instead toughing it out to the door and just looking at it for a moment, as though that would alone be enough to cause whoever to go away. It didn't of course. The knocking continued, and this time Tatou barked at the annoyance and he finally opened the door.

It was Botan who stood on the other side.

"Hiei! People have been knocking on your door off and on for hours! Deciding to ignore everyone now that you helped them get Hikari back?" Hiei didn't answer her, looking at the Guide slightly annoyed. She'd come knocking on his door because he'd slept through the other messengers? Just perfect. He'd rather go back and pass out then stand here and try to be 'normal' for the woman. Tatou huffed at his feet before jumping on Botan's shins and Botan let out a laugh, leaning down to pet her. Tatou lapped up the attention, allowing Hiei to retreat for a moment back inside.

Botan continued to scratch behind Tatou's ear, her eyes lifted just enough to look inside the small apartment. She was worried, Hiei'd ignored them (truly slept) near _forty eight_ hours straight…and maybe that wasn't so strange since she didn't really know his habits but now there was no sound inside the apartment again. Tatou was looking, no longer enjoying the petting, and Botan strained for the sounds that accompanied Hiei's limp or cane. Botan stood, rested her hand on the door jamb before walking inside the small abode.

She found Hiei in the small kitchen/dining room, stopped as though what he had been doing had slipped from his mind on nonexistent wind. He was just standing and staring, hand half reached out for his cane, eyes locked on an object on the table. Tatou walked right up to him and butted him in the leg to which she got no response. Cotton candy eyes looked to the table to catch sight of a modestly framed photo. But before she could move to dispel the glare to see of who it was, Tatou jumped on to the table. The brown animal stayed behind the picture for a moment, looking between it and Hiei, before gently knocking it down with her nose. The gentle clatter, or it disappearing from his sight, was enough to knock Hiei out of whatever he'd been lost in.

"Hiei?" Garnet eyes turned to her. Hiei didn't answer, didn't move the frame. He finished the grab for his cane and once it was at his side, put some of his weight on it.

"What is it you all wanted me for?" Botan blinked in surprise looking at Hiei then back to the photo. She opened her mouth to speak again to have Hiei cut her off.

"…let it go…" She continued to look at him, she didn't want to give it up. But she did. There was a tense moment before she tried speaking again.

"Well, you see they apparently have something to discuss with you. They didn't really say what it was, but they didn't seem worried or really serious or anything. Oh, and I wanted to tell you Hikari woke up, everybody says she'll be fine. I think she wanted to talk to you too, but they were talking her out of it. I don't know why though, I mean you saved her." Botan smiled as Hiei looked away with a slight bob of his head. In the next few minutes she offered to walk back with him, he accepted in extreme reluctance, changed clothes and they walked out the door with Tatou scampering after them.

Sukuu

The agents within the Headquarter building hardly noticed Hiei, with Botan right behind him, quickly walk through the conference rooms and back to little infirmary; they were much too busy watching Tatou seemingly stepping on _every_ paper, on _every_ desk. Hiei's lip twitched for a momentary smile, there wasn't a better distraction then that little animal. It surprised him that of the two conversations he's rather avoid, allowing the recovering girl to spout her mush 'thank yous' was more appealing then going and speaking with the people that nearly unknowingly controlled his life won by overwhelming odds. Tatou bounced back to him at that moment, and snorted while kicking off a sticky note from her foot. Some days it truly felt like she could read minds. Just some.

The infirmary wasn't out of the ordinary for the rest of the building, the actions within the room only announced by the red plus sign stenciled on the door. There wasn't any real noise coming from inside, nothing seemed to be happening. That was more then fine with him.

Hikari was sitting up, propped by pillows and blowing a stray strand of hair from her face. She appeared mildly unfocused but smiled haphazardly when she noticed them. She jabbed a thumb back at the pillows,

"They won't let me sit up without 'em. It's really stupid…" Before Hiei could take another step, she jumped to the point.

"Thank you." Hiei stopped, and nodded, a bare jerk of his head. Botan stayed back, a bystander to the exchange.

"I'm glad you came to get me, I'm glad _someone_ came to get me. I don't remember a whole lot, I was goin' in and out for little, but I thought for second I wasn't getting out. So thank you." Her voice was still the soft groggy thing it had been since the cave and as she spoke she continued to smile. She didn't choke up, not even as she remembered losing hope. She chuckled.

"I think I'm supposed to be feeling a little more sad, but I'm blamein' it on the meds." She looked a little goofily, pointedly, at the IV to her side.

"Thank you," she whispered again. Hiei nodded fully this time and all of it made Botan smile. Tatou jumped up onto the bed and for a while Hikari just petted her as her visitors just stayed in the quiet infirmary.

--

Eventually the visit to the infirmary turned into a happy chat between Botan and Hikari, who was happy for the change from the boring white walls and gave Hiei more time to put off his eventual meeting. The chatting didn't end until an agent playing nurse brought some meds, or maybe some supplements as no one asked and he didn't say, and food for dinner. Botan was momentarily embarrassed at talking for so long, but it was easily shrugged off and the recovering girl gave Hiei one more smile before he left.

Hiei was still in no hurry to make his meeting start. He moved through the building very slowly, nearly dragging his feet. But Botan was making a beeline for the meeting room, looking over her shoulder to make sure he followed and Hiei could've cursed her for it. But as he got closer and closer to meeting room, he began to resign himself to the inevitable. It would happen at some point, whether it would be on his terms or theirs was currently up to him. If he went to them, he'd have the chance of backing out if things went in the wrong directions. In the back of his mind he felt as if he knew they would. If they came to him, in his leased little abode, Hiei knew he'd be backed into a corner, no escape, forced to listen for too long.

If that happened they'd be leaving with Tatou nearly attached to their backsides.

They both stopped in front of the meeting room, and Hiei just looked at the door for a moment. Now or never. Get it done with and move on, but no thought could make this easier. He opened the door, and part of his mind nearly rebelled to back right back down the hall. But he was invited in, and that was it.

He got a smile from Turner, a nod from the Headman. And then the door closed behind him, just barely allowing Tatou to slip in. As the door clicked, Elizabeth's face turned to a shocked embarrassed look, and gave the Headman a apologetic toothy grin.

"_I don't think I'm supposed ta be in here. So I'll just be slippin' right on out if you've nothing to say, Sir_." The Headman nodded and quickly Turner had left the room, a cheerful greeting to Botan in the hall echoed back into the meeting room. The Headman turned to Hiei then, who only turned his garnet eyes to the Japanese man.

"I just wished to inform you that, currently, nothing has been passed on to us, and there isn't anything here, that needs your work. Your apartment will continued to be leased until there is other work for you. Decision from higher up, they wish for you to remain here until they have something suited to you." Hiei nodded slightly.

"You may leave if you wish." And the man went to shuffling papers. Hiei left the room quickly, leaving a surprised Botan to play catch-up, a bad feeling nagging at the back of his mind. And with the way Tatou attempted to step on his feet with each step he took, she did too.

He made it back outside and leaned against the buildings front. The feeling pooled in the bottom of his gut; there was a way for this to get worse, now what was it?

Sukuu

Outside two short visits to Hikari, making absolutely sure the girl was sleeping both times, there was very, very little that Hiei found to do. And of that only one or two things that actually keeping him moderately entertained. He spent the most of the two weeks after his little 'not-as-important-as-he-thought' meeting walking outside town limits, being consciously careful to stay far away from the iridescent flowers and dank caves. He tried on a pair of occasions to leave his dark wood cane in the lease apartment, and found that he didn't get near as far away from the bustle of the daily human lives as he did with it. Tatou followed him on his outings, often running far out into the secluded areas and leaving Hiei in peace as she chased what little animals she could.

He was spending his days losing himself anywhere and everywhere. His nights trying not to wander too deep into the mind. He'd hide the photo far down into pillows or clothes, and try to fall asleep as soon as the sun set. All in all, the long bouts of walking and long hours sleeping were balancing each other out, and the time was going passed him in a agreeable rate. But it seemed to only be the case for him. Botan started each morning of this routine in vain attempts for him to do something else in a strange worrying way. She suggested he walk in town instead outside of it, she suggesting going back and seeing Yukina, or even just sitting outside and watching her. Her attempts, though, were getting weaker and weaker. So when there was a knock on the door that morning, Hiei was in no hurry to answer it; even Tatou ignored the door in favor of her food.

It wasn't Botan.

The knocks were too harsh, much louder then hers. Hiei looked up from what he'd been eating for his breakfast, chewing slowly as he looked to the door in slight confusion. On the next knock, a pound that sounded more like the door had been kicked, Tatou looked up from her own food and let out a low growl. Hiei stuffed the last bite into his mouth before he limped to the door. The obnoxious knocking was attracting the neighbor's attention, and Hiei bundled his annoyance together in hopes of getting this to stop quickly. He'd been careful to draw little attention; with not knowing how much longer he'd be there, he didn't want that just suddenly blown away if he could help it.

The agents at his door where most definitely not of the Japanese Branch. The obvious foreigners stared at him a moment, looked to each other with raised eyebrows, and then looked back at him in a synced movement. But in the moment they did look back at him, the wooden door greeted them. By the time they'd broken the door down, Hiei was no longer in the building.

--

Hiei was currently stashed in the infirmary. Not hidden. Stashed. Who knew there was a nurse gutsy enough around here to force even him into the infirmary just for not having his cane. Then again, the infirmary only had one entrance. Hikari had been released days earlier, there was no one else in the room as the nurse was busy looking elsewhere for another cane. Tatou paced by the door, looking to it with the occasional flick of her ears. The people that had come to his door left a bad feeling with him. Whoever they were, agents or no, to appear at Hiei's door left him ready to defend instantaneously. The door began to open, startling Tatou. He expected the nurse with a new cane, he readied for the two that had been at this door. It turned out to be the Headman, and he quickly hid a makeshift weapon behind his back. Hiei felt relief rise in his chest, and the Headman smiled a little.

"Good to find you here, the nurse thought you may have left the infirmary against her wishes." Hiei did not answer, but the Japanese man just continued on.

"We've been given word that you are to head out, another assignment has been given to you. They need you to leave tomorrow." So the people at his door that morning had been there because he'd gotten a new assignment. It couldn't be considered the worst first impression he'd ever made. The next few days were going to interesting though.

"I have papers you'll need and a briefing on your new assignment in my office. I didn't know you'd be here or I'd have brought it with me."

"Ah,…don't…don't worry about it," he murmured.

"If you'll follow me back, I'll give you those papers and you can be on your way out of here." Hiei nodded and stood stiffly, Tatou cocked her head at him before following him out.

Hiei was making his way out of the Headquarters building for what would be the last time, left hand grasping his new 'spare' cane and resisting the thought of using it. The nurse was horrified to find he only had one with no thoughts of a spare. Apparently he was "the type", the one's known for often breaking the things. As far as he was concerned she was way off base, and how the hell would she know if he was "the type" anyways? Feeling perturbed and mildly insulted at the insinuation, he was determined to leave before those emotion leaked past his cracked defenses. Two blocks away from the Headquarters, he was suddenly being called for. He didn't stop, he certainly didn't want to talk; all he wanted was to pack what little he even wanted, get the hell out of the country and just maybe stop getting stared at. Maybe in a perfect world. If he took a left at the next corner maybe he'd stumbled into one.

Botan though wasn't on the same wavelength as he. She took no hint and continued to call, rushing towards him without delay. With slightly labored breathing she spoke,

"You're actually in town this time!" Hiei gave her a rather blank look to which Botan just smiled.

"I've been reassigned. Its not within Japan. You should go back to the Reikai, go back to ferrying the dead." Botan stood still in a moment of surprise and Hiei took the opportunity to continue towards the apartment. Her surprise was only momentary though, and despite the great deal of fear Hiei had inspired in her before, placed her fists upon her hips and let frustration have it's way.

"I'll have you know, Koenma asked me to do this. So this is my job now! I'm supposed to be following and helping you," her frustration faded, "Besides, what else would I do. I can't just go back to being an ordinary Guide." Hiei didn't stop moving, though briefly cast his eyes downward, speaking to Botan again.

"Go back an tell Koenma where you're going then." The easily cheerful woman smiled at this, though Hiei's voice still held a hint of annoyance.

"And where is that?" Botan was ready to play along.

"Hell if I know." Botan figured he was playing right back.

"You don't know?"

"Nope." Annoyance was clear in his voice again.

"What type of Organization is this?!"

_Hell if I know _that_ either…_

Sukuu

It took no more then a half hour to locate and put together everything he wanted, or dare say needed. The pile sat on the little kitchen table, a few things of clothing, the twin canes, the photo….nothing more as he ran a little check in his head. A brown nose nudged his leg. Draped over the animal was a pair of blankets, one sporting a few of Tatou's longer brown hairs. Hiei blinked, his eyebrows rising to underneath his white bandana.

"You want me…to steal a couple of blankets?" The animal yipped.

"Oh, you've have to be kidding me!" he murmured placing his head in his hand. Tatou just wagged her tail at him. He had no more time to contemplate his animal's behavior, as a knock came from the door.

Five minutes later, Hiei was quickly heading down the road and out of dodge, what little he'd gathered held close (including the blankets, damn that animal), a bit of paranoia seeping in. There'd been no one at the door. Under almost all other circumstances, barring any that occurred within the Makai, he'd of shrugged it off, maybe kept his hand on his katana hilt, (or grip of any other sharp object) but now all he wanted was to get out of the country. Anywhere, even the frozen reaches of his home world, was better then Japan and what it held. He hit a street corner and stopped. He took a moment to shift his things around, he hadn't bothered to put them in anything, to pull out and unfold one of the papers on his newest assignment. _Good god, I'm actually running _to_ a job I'd rather avoid. _Could he sink any lower?

The exact place they needed his "services" next hadn't been revealed. There had been, though, a train station and stop named, where he'd get off and get to the Organization building there and swept off to where ever he was going. If strange things weren't happening, he'd make them sweat wondering if he would show or not. And enough strange things had been happening in the last six months to make even the most level headed of people go positively superstitious. It probably didn't help that by most human standards, demons were superstitious. Hiei peered at the paper and then took a left, intent on hitting the station to find out where this stop was. He wasn't planning on taking the train. Cane or no cane, crippled leg or no crippled leg, there was no way he'd be on that train.

Upon hitting the station, Hiei found the crap scared out of him. Outwardly, you couldn't tell. There were no signs, and he certainly didn't jump or yell. Inside, he mind was going about a hundred miles an hour faster then normal, his heart was slamming against his ribcage in an unfamiliar way and every sense had been flung wide open. That and he was cursing himself, first for getting surprised, second for reacting to it _at all_.

"Hiei? They finally reassigned you?" Hiei turned, making sure his face showed no outward sign of _anything_, and found himself looking to Hikari's eyes. Which was alarming. Why the hell was she _that close? _As though realizing she'd gone and burst his bubble of personal space a good five feet back, Hikari moved back a step and smiled a little. She took his silence in a whole other way.

"Everyone knows, apparently this job and everyone in it are the most interesting

thing to happen here a few years." Hiei didn't even quirk an eyebrow; he knew why, what with the Reikai Tantei holding off the majority of the demonic attacks before...

"Do you know where you're going? What you're going to be doing?"

"No." She nodded, acting as if she understood. Her face said she didn't. She nibbled a moment on her lip before continuing.

"If you…should end up in the States, or anyplace that speaks mainly English, I've got a bit of advice whether you want it or not." Hiei stayed still. The conviction of that statement was clear enough, better to just let her say it rather then draw attention with her yelling across the station. As it was, it felt like too many people were watching for his liking.

"If you run into a guy that goes by Mic and you need him to do something, you can easily bribe him with pickles. I'm not kidding. He's a stickler for going by the books, and with the way you've gone about this I don't think you are. It could come in handy, y'know." The information was probably worthless, but Hiei said nothing as his eyes strayed momentarily to the only bandage left on her. The white cloth looking stripe was too obvious as her hand ran through her messy hair.

"I guess all I want to do is say thank you, again, and try to give you a little help. I hope your next assignment doesn't go wrong. And I hope if we meet again, its under better circumstances." Hiei nodded. Even as pessimistic as he tended to be, he'd rather that happen then anything else, it sounded better then anything else his mind could think of. People started to float in, a train was sounding in the distance. They parted without a word, as Hiei attempted to find something that told him stations and then get out of there as fast as possible. Hikari stayed by the entrance for a while. The train was pulling in when he notice the list of stations. As people flowed onto the platform, he coild just hear her yelling,

"Hope that tip wasn't too useless!" followed by laughter.

Hiei never managed to read the list.

Redemption

His stomach was rolling and tossing, very reminiscent of a lake in stormy weather. Which is exactly _not_ how stomachs are supposed to be reacting. A person is not supposed to be swallowing back bile while trying to get his senses back. His stomach lurched for a second round, ready to sucker punch him. The door behind him slammed shut and his hands flew to cover his mouth.

What the _hell_ had this organization come to?! Hiei'd heard of these back in the Makai, clothes or even jewelry that were basically talismans themselves. Their true purpose wasn't widely known, their side effects were. Known for dizzying and screwing with all the senses of the affected giving them double vision, severe migraines, auditory and visual hallucinations, and on other cases nausea and other minor debilitating illnesses. Time seemed to go at warp speed while under the curse and often the only way to move from where you were or to even stay standing, was to rely on another. Very handy for kidnap. Hard to detect. Hiei hoped the creator was long dead or he'd been visiting the other realm by the fire demon's own two hands.

And now this organization was clearly using it for their own gain. More then likely to secret away agents to assignments where their knowledge was no one else's, where each was given a job and orders were out to speak to no other person. Yes, he was a flight risk, known to the Reikai and beyond to leave through nearest window before a person could blink. Minor paranoia did this after a while. And nearly every demon had a minor case of paranoia, he was just quicker then most. Garnet eyes shut to block the doubles of every little thing, to stop the chances of hallucinations of the visual nature, and pieced back together what had happened.

They had walked up to him at the train stations, the only time they had spoken the entire trip had been right then, informing the ebony haired demon of their stations within the Organization and that they were his 'escort' to his next assignment. The number of talismans on them had to have been many as Hiei was quickly under their side effects. It had not affected the humans on the platform, though he'd never heard if it would have or not. It seemed to him now that they didn't. The two escorted him to a train and the ride had been uneventful, Hiei simply left to try and fight off the side effects. He'd gotten no where by the terminal point of the ride.

Where they'd carted him to next had been as foggy as the next form of transportation, though a clear moment in his mind was them trying to get into a waiting vehicle somewhere along the line. His violent protest of the contraption had been taken for problems currently in his head, but the distinct chilled feeling of seeing the double vision of it left Hiei wondering if that was really it. The demon dwelled not on the little moment in his travel. The next clearest thing in the warps speed haze was the nausea that had been growing in his stomach coming to full fruition and now being left here as he was. There was a feeling of weightlessness that mixed in there somewhere as well, that linked to the nausea and made everything feel worse. What had caused it he couldn't remember.

Now as he opened his eyes the double vision nearly cleared, now left to a small close together double line of the outside of every object. Hiei turned his head slowly as to not bring back the vision problems and found on a small table his things; the clothes, the framed photograph, his canes, even the stolen blankets he'd taken no time to argue about. For a moment minor panic swelled in a wave to rival the lingering, yet still strong, nausea as the brown fuzz ball had yet to make an appearance since the platform. But then there was a nudge at his leg and at risk of aggravating his condition, Hiei whipped his head in that direction and was greeted by the brown piece of fluff. Tatou wrapped herself around his legs, seemingly careful of his cane and Hiei finally looked about the room he was in.

It was another apartment, decorated with the necessities but little else. As this apartment was larger then one in Japan, Hiei could just barely see into the kitchen to note some papers held on to the refrigerator with magnets. He took a step farther in. There seemed nothing remarkable in the first rooms. A comfortable living room, a usable bedroom, an apparently stocked kitchen. It was the dining room, or what could be considered the dining room, that held something. Hiei had passed by the magnetized papers in the kitchen and now stared at the stacks of files and loose papers on the table. They were arranged into three piles, if one was sitting there'd be a pile to the left, to the right and before a person. Placed in the workspace between these files was a single paper. Despite the distrust he felt for this set up, Hiei walked forward to grab the paper.

_Jaganshi-san_, Hiei nearly winced at reading this. Unfortunately explanations followed it so he went on.

_Welcome, I do hope that your flight and arrival went well. The apartment is leased currently to you until the point where you are reassigned, should the time come. As for your assignment, I'm afraid I must confess that there actually isn't one. I have been directed by the Council to find a way to get you from Japan to a more secured location. A fake assignment was the quickest way out. There is currently no operation with in my control that is in need of your talents. Instead teams that are in need of your abilities have been instructed to send their work for you through me to be passed on to you and then back out. _

_There is no one clear assignment here, this is simply for your safety, wellbeing and our own peace of mind. Please go through these with due speed yet be careful to not overwork yourself. While I know not the full extent of who you are and your importance, I do not wish anything to happen to you while working for me. _

_You are free to leave the apartment but please careful while out. Unwanted attention will only result in a second move. Do not worry about food, there will be a supply delivered each week. Your rent is paid, as will other bills. Please send any that accidentally arrive at your current home to the same place as the finished papers. _

_Enjoy your stay,_

_Iris Webber_

_Headwoman of District 1, West Coast Sub-branch of the United States Organization Branch_

That explained where he was now. The United States. No longer was he in Japan, though that had been obvious from the moment he'd clearly seen the apartment. Despite what the note said, he was not free to roam. Hiei knew this was a way of confining him, controlling his actions, keeping him under thumb until things cooled down and things were forgotten. He looked at the stacks of papers that were expected to done with efficiency. He was nearly tempted to burn them. He was not one to do papers, do this 'sit about' work.

Hiei walked back to his small pile of things. He took the photo from it all and looked fondly. But then the emotions pressed back in, his legs gave way and he fell to kneeling on the floor. His bridges had been burnt all but for Botan, who would no doubt soon be directed there. But for now maybe he could forget. Just forget. And maybe then the hurt would go, maybe he'd never have to remember any of it again.

Just forget.

--

It only took two months!!! YEAH! About the infirmary door, sorry but they look too much like plus signs to me to call them anything else. Umm, please review? I'm gonna update regardless, but I'd still like just one…

Transition chapter, sorry if it was boring. You'll understand where Hiei is in the next chapter, where yes, more people of my own creation will be flooding in, some nameless others not…See ya soon!


	8. Discrepancies

_Being alone is one thing. Being alone and monitored is a whole other. Being a prisoner is bad, being a prisoner in one's own home is undeniably worse. If being lost and knowing not where you are is frustrating and terrifying, being lost with clues to your whereabouts yet unable to know more is enough to drive one mad. The fickle feeling the back of your mind that tells you something is off, that tells you this doesn't fit the puzzle. These things bore at the back of the mind, interrupt you with strange thoughts and theories. With enough of these feelings and enough of these thoughts you see something. And even if that something is so obscure that no one else see it, you may be the only real thing you can cling to. _

_Chapter 7; Discrepancies_

Three days and the papers were gathering dust. Nearly everything was slowly gaining a small coating of dust; the kitchen counters, the dining room table, the door handle to the bedroom. If a neat freak was lead into the apartment (with force of course) they would only find a few clearly defined dustless paths formed by a biped (or was this proof of such things as "tri-peds"?) and a quadruped. From any cache of food, to the various exits and back to one specific window. In three days hardly a different path had been taken. Not that Hiei was really noticing. What little thought he was giving these little trips was the bit of thought he wasn't devoting for finding a _way out of there!_

Forehead to the window pane, he had so far gotten no where. In the work _or_ in the escape attempt. He'd tried every door, every window, anything that could possible lead out of the building and back into fresh air. The doors were locked strangely, not from the outside, nor from the inside. It was the same with the windows, their locks were not something he could simply pick or even smash. He couldn't break them down either. He'd started to try when Tatou had smashed quite hard into the door and been shocked for the effort. Things just hadn't been right since. He was very nearly going stir crazy. _Tatou_ was stir crazy. Even now Hiei could hear her banging her head against the door despite earlier shocks.

The view from the window was nothing special. In fact the most spectacular thing about the view was the many different colored bricks on the side of the next building. Which, funnily enough, had no windows on that side of the building, none at least that he could see. He needed to get out of there. As quickly as possible. Which easily translated to _now._ No one had been by, he'd heard no one else in the hall or anything else. A feeling in the back of his head muttered he was being watched. And now he was noticing little, little useless things about everything around him. Like the many colored bricks in the building, or that Tatou's banging had turned rather hollow. And the clock in the living room ticked. Loudly. Very loudly, very slowly.

Something furry rubbed against his leg. And then it _licked_ his leg.

A startled moment sent him tottering on the windowsill staring at Tatou below as the little animal panted, ears cocked in opposite directions. And the banging was still going. Hiei pointed at the animal with a bit of confusion; if she was there, what the hell was banging at the door? He moved to the door but stopped before trying the knob. When the banging became louder, he tried the knob and found that it, for the first time, turned and even opened. Surprised at the lack of resistance, Hiei allowed it to swing open and straight into the teenager on the other side.

The boy, who'd been attempting to flip his 'in the eyes' hair out of his sight, gave the doorway a disgruntled look when the apartment door hit the paper grocery bags he carried in his arms.

"Do you want your food or not?" Hiei let his face go indifferent. The teenager was about to ask again when Tatou jumped on his knees, sniffing at the bottom of the bags. This startled the teenager, making him jump back to keep the food away from the nosy animal.

"Hey! Call off the dog will you?!" and with his shout he actually caught sight of Hiei for the first time since the door had opened. His mouth dropped at the disgruntled male at least a foot and half shorter then the delivery boy himself. But before the teenager could make the situation any worse by asking if a parent was home, Tatou went for the food again. This time the delivery boy thrust the bags into Hiei's arms, which Tatou quickly followed, and slammed the door shut to stop the brown fuzz ball from coming back out. He leaned against the door to calm his startled heart. _The people they put in that apartment just kept getting weirder and weirder. _

Hiei was pulled back to the present when Tatou scratched at the door. He placed the grocery bags down and tried the knob. And this time, it didn't open.

When Botan was finally given directions to the apartment (they were damn stubborn with proper channels) she found Hiei sitting on the floor of the entryway scrutinizing the door. Tatou was curled in his lap, dreaming and kicking with tongue lolling. To the left were the bags of groceries leaning against the wall. Hiei was holding onto his cane, letting it hit the floor in a quick rhythm.

"Hiei?" She walked towards him, hesitating in the thought to touch him.

"Hn," he made a small noncommittal noise not bothering to turn towards her.

"What are you doing exactly?" Hiei continued to tap his cane. Botan gave him one more look before turning her attention to the grocery bags. A receipt stuck up form one, yesterday's date prominent on top. She took a moment to quietly sift through, finding no perishables within to her luck. The Guide dematerialized her oar before bringing the brown bags into the kitchenette.

"How'd you get in?" Botan set the bags down and turned again to Hiei. He still hadn't turned from the door.

"Just about the same way I always get in. Koenma wanted me to guide a soul

before I came, so I left straight after. There was a big fire no one saw coming, he needed a hand." Botan went on to humming and placing the groceries into the cupboards. After she placed the last item on the shelf and turned back to the apparently mesmerized fire demon. The Guide was met with Tatou rolling about the floor, scratching an itch on her shaggy back.

--

The Spirit Guide sighed. Another day, another portion of what she felt was a routine. The protected end of the dark wood cane was pressed the honey colored wood of the apartment door. So far he'd done nothing more. Hiei simply seemed to be staring at it, leaning partially on the cane but nothing was happening. Tatou was making a go of running into the door, slipping and sliding on the floor before coming in to hit it. With another hearty bang, Tatou's bushy brown body hit the door. She popped back half dazed, shaking her head and flopping her ears. Then, backing up a few feet, the animal charged again. Botan sighed and closed her eyes at the next bang. If it wasn't the door, the two were near a window or some other possible way out. Staring and bashing heads. The sky haired Guide had been careful in giving Hiei space, she stayed only for a few hours. Botan was steadily feeling more like she was checking up on him then anything else.

"Hiei? If you want to leave, why don't you just try the door?" The more she stayed by him, the more boldly she spoke to him, though she stayed careful to gauge his reactions the best she could. As different as he seemed now, what she knew of him before still scared her from speaking her mind fully. For once he actually turned to look at her. Hiei reached for the doorknob without looking back at it. The pale hand turned it, but nothing happened. The jiggling doorknob surprised Botan, but as she made to try the door herself Botan was startled by high pitched beeping. It was a sound used by the Reikai to summon its Spirit Guides. It was a sound that Koenma had promised her she would more then likely not hear. But it was beyond his control, as it was used in emergencies when off duty Guides were sorely needed. Torn between duty and worry, she took a moment to watch Hiei.

Tatou's nails scratched on the floor but this time Hiei stopped the little thing from hitting the door again. Hiei turned his head to look at her, holding on the scruff of Tatou's neck. He blinked once, before dropping to his knees and pulling Tatou's to his chest. Hiei stood and limped to the kitchen, Tatou still in hand, picked a magnet off the fridge and walked back to the entry way. Botan had already left, missing the scene that played out. He tossed it at the door and a bright spark shot out.

--

It took two weeks before the delivery boy from the local Haggen Food and Pharmacy came back to the apartment. The threat of a pink slip hung over his head, keeping his legs going down the hall to the door and he watched the woman across the hall slipped back into her apartment as he got close. Revisiting the whacko in apartment 7C was not the way he hoped to spend his working hours.

"Damn shut-in's. Find another way to get your damn groceries…" He'd thought it all a hilarious joke when he'd gotten back to store. Sent to deliver groceries to a mother and her son….except there was no mother and damn that man was _short!_ Short enough to be abnormal, too tall to be a "little person". And so far the battle with the dog had yet to not cause laughter within the workplace, damn the manager. He got to the door, flipped his brown locks from his eye out of habit, and knocked. Again it took a while before the occupant opened the door. And again the dog was at the brown paper bags before he could react.

He pulled the bag up high, going so far as to place one on his shoulders to keep the dog out. The short shut-in was at the door, making no effort to control his pet.

"I've got your groceries, call off the dog so I can give them to you." The delivery boy watched the other simply tap the floor with a cane and the dog reluctantly left the food bags alone. The teen gave the entire display a strange look, before thrusting his delivery at the occupant of 7C.

"Just take your groceries so I can go, please?" he asked with what ever politeness that was left to him. No reason to give his manager more reason to fire his sorry hide. Without facial expression the black haired shut-in took the bags and the brown, overly furry dog following them inside. The teenager let out a relived sigh as the door began to shut, starting his way down and out of the building.

Two doors down from 7C, sudden wind shocked him.

He looked back but there wasn't anywhere for the sudden gust to have came from. The neighbor also stood in the hall again. She appeared just as surprised, looking up and down the corridor.

Redemption

He was out. There was a friendly breeze playing with his hair, warm sunlight hitting his skin and the noise of people about him. Tatou was sniffing at the ground and everything in between, trying to be everywhere at once while he was rooted to the spot mere blocks away from the apartment that had been his jail for nearly three weeks. Hiei wasn't leaning upon his cane, instead it was held loosely in his hand. He was right in the way, blocking the people walking down the street. They moved around him, grumbling but compromising for the moment. Hiei let go a deep breath, amazingly feeling tension leave his body at the simple freedom of being outside of those four walls.

Tatou slumped to the sidewalk near a light post with her ears sliding back in complete contentment. With garnet eyes half closed in the only sign of a similar feeling, he moved over to her and out of the way. Hiei dropped down beside her, watching Tatou revel in the outdoors. He ran a hand down her body gently a few times before starting down the block. After a few moments, Tatou followed. Hiei didn't know where exactly he was heading. Just down the busy street away from the apartment and the papers and the ever growing dust. Just away. He'd been hoping to attempt an escape. He'd been trying since getting there. Careful to not force anything, leave no real trace, just trying silently and subtly to gain a measure of freedom. When the delivery boy had first shown up, he'd been surprised that the door had opened easily and unfortunately let his chance slip by. Since the raven haired demon had been waiting for the teenager to come back. And then he'd acted.

With a little timing and a burst of speed, he'd been able to take Tatou and himself out of there quickly. The door had shut behind him, he'd passed the delivery boy on his way out. He'd been a blur to human eyes for four blocks before stopping with the first feeling of freedom. Good honest freedom. Greenery caught his eye. To his right was a spacious park, trees seemingly everywhere. And few people. No one on the busy street noticed him just disappear.

A few of the kids within the park did notice Tatou just wander in. Their parents kept them back, away from the strange dog that wondered without a collar or owner about. She walked through the trees and then stopped just under one. Hiei's leg dangled from a tree branch, the sun resting on his pale skin. The wind moved lightly past and it felt like before. It felt _right_…

He woke up and it was dark. The park was cool and breezy, Tatou still lay at the roots of the tree.

--

"I'm sorry, sir. The delivery boy just dropped off the groceries and before I came to check the door, he left. The dog's gone too."

"What are you talking about?"

"The transferred Japanese agent…the one we placed in apartment 7C on 22nd street?"

"We put someone in the apartment on 22nd?

"Yes, sir, and now I'm afraid he's run."

"Don't worry about it. He was just a transferred agent right? Probably a little stir crazy from all the paperwork they got him on for the transfer."

"Sir, there's a good film of dust on the paperwork. He was sent here on some sort of protection detail. And now he's gone."

"……_shit_."

"Shit would be right, sir."

--

_Hiei, where are you?_ From her perch on the oar, she could see much of the city. But, as in Japan, she didn't know where to look for him. Not that it was about to stop her. Botan was about to loop back to the outskirts, when she spotted it. The many trees of the park. Her face brightened into a smile and dipping her oar down Botan raced to the tree level. Her cotton candy eyes searched about in the darkness as she moved gently forward. Botan was hardly watching where she was going, embroiled in her search as she was. A low, gruff 'woof' startled her. The wooden oar rocked as she jumped and she held onto it tightly before looking down. The brown fluff and big ears were unmistakable.

"Tatou!" she whispered in sheer relief. The little animal flopped herself down and panted in an almost grin-like fashion at her. Botan brought her oar closer. Relief flooded her veins, her hand stretched out to pet the soft tuft of fur atop Tatou's head. The little fur ball let her eyes slide shut in contentment.

"…….you know where Hiei is?" Tatou made no move from Botan's hand. The Guide sighed. Of all things, why did she believe the little animal would know where Hiei was, let alone lead her to him? Botan stopped moving her hand as her mind drifted to many abandoned places she could search next. With the affection stopped, Tatou yawned widely, getting to her paws and beginning to march off.

With her mind made up to search the east outskirts of the city thoroughly once more, Botan realized her fingers were curled into thin air. When she lifted her eyes, Tatou was ten yards ahead of her. Tatou blinked her green eyes languidly, huffing at Botan's immobile figure. In sudden realization, the Spirit Guide hopped awkwardly from her oar. The large ears twitched and immediately the brown animal was bounding off for another grove of trees. Her face split into a smile and she was off after Tatou.

With reckless energy, Tatou continued through the park and entered the mass of trees. Brown nose twitching, she followed her sense of smell back to the tree. She plopped back down a foot away from it and looked to Botan expectantly. When the Guide had gotten past the first few large, healthy trees, she looked to the higher branches for any black form within the foliage. Each tree passed inspection before her eyes would move on. But she didn't see anything. In the dark of the trees, the little rays of moonlight hardly did anything to help her. It didn't stop her and her eyes didn't leave the trees until Botan nearly tripped over Tatou as the animal scrambled to get out of the way.

"Whoa!" she struggled for balance before regaining her footing, "I didn't step on you did I?" Botan knelt down to Tatou's level, reaching out to touch her though the creature was nearly lost in the wide sleeves of the kimono. Tatou lapped up the attention, though she'd suffered none.

"Try not tripping over your own feet." The deep voice and abrasive inflection in the sound sent Botan's head back up to search the trees. She found Hiei sitting on a branch to her left. His eyes were closed and he looked absolutely boneless sitting, almost slouching, at the junction of branch and trunk. One leg still hung off the branch, foot almost touching the long abandoned cane hanging off a lower, smaller branch. The ebony haired demon made no effort to move closer and spoke not a word more. Botan smiled again, a small giggle bubbling to her lips.

"You've sent a lot of people on a man hunt today, Hiei." No reaction but Tatou seeking attention again.

"I went back to the apartment and some people were milling about and you were just gone. You finally leave the place and end up worrying a bunch of people." In a way she was talking to herself, a small part in the back of her mind telling her Hiei wasn't listening. A fact only confirmed by no answers or acknowledgement. She kept talking despite the fact.

"This organization's really trying hard to keep tabs on you, huh? Even Tatou. And you just leaving leaves them all worked up." She sighed, Tatou bumping her hands for another pet. Botan relented and began to speak to Hiei again.

"You scared me. I know I shouldn't, you've obviously kept yourself safe just fine for a long time. But now, with Kuwabara, Kurama, even Yusuke….you know no one actually thought there was something that could kill him after coming back so many times….now that they're gone…I just do." And she spoke no more. She didn't know if Hiei had even been listening. But somehow it felt better to have said something out loud even if no one heard, or understood, there was something off her chest. Botan went to happily stroking Tatou. Hiei did not move an inch, allowing the Guide to stay where she sat without disturbance.

--

"Well, does he have something on him?"

"Something? More specific then he's not running about naked?" Lacquered fingers pinched the bridge of petite round nose. The man was standing in the middle of electronic devices and computers. What did he think she meant?

"Like a cell phone or something."

"No, nothing like that." Some days idiots walked into her sanctuary. It was those days that nearly made her tear out her hair and then the wiring of her motherboard.

"I am the tech expert for this portion of the Branch. If there are no electronics and you can't tell me anything more, I can't help you." She spoke slowly and clearly, praying that some how the obvious ex-jock before her would somehow comprehend her. He stared at here almost brainlessly for a moment longer.

"Do you have _any _suggestions? I've been up three days straight with the last case they put me on and now they want me to double up. I'm getting a twitch here!" Almond eyes blinked. She's wondered why his left eye was seizing.

"When you want to get away, where do you go?"

"Hockey rink."

"Okay, now find someone who would know something he does for fun. Maybe that's where your missing agent went."

"I can try. Thanks, Jose." And with that he was out of the basement tech abode before the tech expert could react.

"It's _Garcia_!!"

--

Her eyes were getting droopy. With eyes like little slits, garnet orbs turned to the sky haired Guide, Hiei felt no relief nor annoyance with her presence. She'd been there all night. No one else had shown up, no one had followed her and no one had tried to force him back into that apartment. And Tatou wasn't bugging him for a change. She sat in the Guide's lap contently with tongue near lolling. Botan had started up her one-sided conversation a few more times over the night. He'd caught parts and pieces in between dozing. For now the companionable silence was okay for both. Hiei had no thought of leaving the park yet. The outside was perfect. And when perfect comes around, it is wiser not to mess with it.

The sun had risen a half hour before. He'd awoken and not moved a muscle. Indeed, outside of opening his eyes just wide enough to spot Botan sleepily leaning against a different tree, not even his deep breathing had changed. The birds were starting up now, though a majority of the city and suburbs still slept peacefully. All but the one now pounding their way down the parks path in the cool morning air. And thus Tatou's bark filled the air too. The brown animal scrambled from Botan's lap, fully awaking her from her half doze and causing her to jump to her feet and search for the little animal. Hiei finally moved from his all-night slouched position, looking to the park path and the over-excited animal.

Tatou was leaning enthusiastically over the runner, who now was laid-out flat on his backside. Wide-eyed, mouth opened with a mix of confusion and horror written across his face, something seemed to be dawning slowly behind brown eyes.

An excited grin took over face and he grasped Tatou about her middle lifting her, ignoring as the animal struggled, doing the doggie paddle in the air.

"You!"

Tatou whined.

"You're that….animal? The whatever following….whassis'name!" Tatou raised one ear and lowered the other. And when the man continued to smile widely, she huffed loudly into his face. The ex-jock tucked Tatou to his chest to wipe his face and then began to look about for 'whassis'name'.

"Tatou! Hiei, she's…," Botan stopped mid-thought as Hiei jumped down from his branch, cane rocking in its place but staying put. Of course Tatou would lead people straight to him. She'd done it with Botan, why not the stranger in the park? Now the question was, leave her or not? But it was much too late for those thoughts. Tatou was scrambling in midair for their little alcove. And the tired ex-jock's brain was whirring away, slowing making sense of the way the animal in his arms squirmed.

And then there was Botan working against him as well. Hiei ground his teeth as the sky haired woman ran from the little hidden spot and to the aide of a most capable beast.

"Figures…" He watched the Guide easily steal Tatou away, the man joyous at finding them both and now eagerly searching for the black haired demon himself. Any hint of confusion and slowness was now banished. And then Botan did the unthinkable. She placed Tatou on the ground. Tatou stumbled and scrambled back to the little alcove, back to him frantically. So while no one else was watching him, scrutinizing him, Hiei heaved a sigh. By the time Tatou crashed into his shins, all annoyance had been wiped off his face.

Tatou hid behind his legs, half her shaking rump peeking out from behind him. The searcher was quick to follow, heading for the trees and most certainly not alone. The American agent burst through the last bit of foliage and stopped with a smile coming to his face.

"I found you!"

_You got lucky._ Hiei bit the inside of his cheek to hold back comments. Tatou peeked out from behind him.

"You!" The man pointed at Tatou, "Good dog, you led me straight to him!" The brown animal's ears drooped and she hid back behind Hiei. She bumped her head into the back of his calf and settled back down. Hiei closed his eyes for a moment before lifting his head to look at the man uninterested. It didn't quell the man's enthusiasm and he jumped immediately into "standard procedures".

"You were asked not to leave the safe house they placed you in. While this can't be considered an offence or any such thing, you've sent us all on a damn chase!" The ex-jock shook his head in a reproachful manner before grinning at him again.

"That was ballsy, man! I haven't seen anyone go against the Director since that team 'remade' the plans to break into the National Archives five years ago!" Hiei again didn't make a sound but now Botan was watching the searcher with a confused look on her face.

"But even with all of that, I gotta ask you to go back to the apartment. You've got that paperwork and all available agents after you, it's a lot less of a hassle if you just go back and pretend you were hardly gone."

Hiei turned on his heel and walked off from both the Guide and agent. A confused laugh met his ears.

"Uhh, your apartment is in the other direction." Hiei felt Tatou brush against his leg.

"That I know."

"Then you shouldn't be heading in that direction." The voice was clipped and not as all similar to the agent's. Hiei didn't stop until a new agent stepped out three feet in front of him. Another stepped out of the trees, garnet eyes caught glimpse of him from the corner of the eye. More shifts of leaves and the thocks of footsteps and Hiei knew that more _agents_ had stepped from hiding. _Human_ agents, lacking any aura whatsoever.

"Bi-Bianca? I-I mean-"

"Relax, Jeremy," a feminine voice spoke but Hiei still hadn't turned, "Now you, sir, sent an assortment of agents out to chase you yesterday. Fable would like to _encourage _you to go back to the apartment of your own will." Hiei took a step towards his exit again. The agent in front of him moved to a more readied stance.

"Please don't make this hard. I don't know why its so important for you to be in the apartment but-," she didn't get further as Hiei again took a step and the agent in front of him rushed forward as orders dictated. Hiei scooped Tatou up and was gone in a flicker.

A rush of air told Jeremy that Botan had also taken off.

Redemption

He watched the door of the apartment with distrust. He'd already tried the handle, found that it turned without any problems. But he hadn't opened the door and now leaned on the wall opposite it. Going in was condemning himself all over again, going back to his prison.

"Why did you come back here?" He turned to look at Botan. She was looking at him with surprise and worry.

_It's the last place they'll look. _And that was the full truth.

"Hiei, what's going on? I thought that people here were able to work and leave almost as they pleased! What's happened?" There was no answer to give. Even if Hiei did know what all of it meant, telling anyone would've been the last thing on his mind. He still wanted to get away.

Tatou whined in front of him, bringing her paw up to touch his shin. He wanted to leave, leave this thing he didn't want. But at the same time, knowing that leaving was as good as dying, as good as un-doing everything Kurama had done, a second part of him wanted to stay and annoy them to the point that they tried to get rid of him themselves.

Hiei straightened up, pushed to the door and walked back inside. Pissing them off, now if that wasn't an idea he could get behind.

--

Hiei looked at the papers in disgust. He'd only been at it, attempting to be at it, for two minutes and he already wanted to shred every last paper. He had waited for the next day, waited until Botan had let him be. And even then he'd forced himself to sit before the dusty papers. Tatou sat on the table as well, batting at flies. Hiei picked up a paper, scanned a few words before throwing it in a growing pile he had been making just a left of center on the table top. When he went to pick up another one, heaving a sigh at the undesirable task, Tatou jumped for a fly, landing the still unsorted pile.

She moved her paws, looking for a squashed fly. When she found nothing, she turned to Hiei, yawning widely with tongue curling. The raven haired demon's eye twitched. He seized her about the middle and set her almost roughly on to the floor.

"Now you've created more shit then these lazy idiots already have," Hiei sighed before picking up a few of the papers scattered on the ground.

When this _condition _had made its' self known so many years back it had initially taken him out of a cage he knew not had placed him in. But by uttering three simple words, he'd caged himself all over again. And since then he had let none know what he was capable of beyond his hard won strength. Working with Yusuke, with them all, had put no pressure on him beyond fighting, beyond the normal. Hiei focused again on the paper in his hands. A large note card had been stapled to front of the of the many hand written papers. The words were light and happy, who ever had sent in the handwritten message had not been worried over its contents. They spoke of many different things, everything mundane and in no way a part of average mission activities.

When he stood up and placed it into another pile, he looked back to the scattered papers. He spotted another with a large note card. And then another. He found many, the writers of the note card sometimes changing, sometimes adding parts to another's account of happenings. They were a group assigned to the same task, letting the next who handled the papers in on anything simple. He read each, and then slowly began to work on his tasks. His mind felt clearer…

--

It was nearly a week before he could even consider himself half way through the piles he'd allowed dust to gather on. And part of that was all Tatou. The papers were comfortable to her and often if he left them unattended with her, Hiei would come back to find her sprawled out on them. And that was where she was now. He grabbed her under her forelimbs and for a moment meant to place her on the ground. A brown furry tail began wagging, whipping papers around with some light gusts. Letting go a sigh he placed her in his lap and picked up another batch of bound papers. He settled back in before Botan showed for her routine mid week pop in. As he flipped the pages he had in hand, his garnet eyes flickered momentarily to the unfinished pile. A batch with a large note card stapled to front sat on top. Written in ink and in very loopy print, he didn't recognize it from the first time he had found so many of the others.

Hiei quickly began to work through the papers he held.

--

It took three weeks. Three weeks to work through the papers he'd had found in the apartment upon his arrival over a month past. In between Botan and her chatting, Tatou's ever present 'playing', another round with the delivery boy and his own cabin fever, the dark fire demon had finally managed his way to the end. And now he lay on the floor of the living room nursing a growing headache. He didn't like papers. Especially not that many papers. It would be a fate easily worse then death and captivity if he had to work on papers the entire duration of his time spent under the "watchful care" of Fable.

_"Watchful care". _Hiei would have rolled his eyes at the thought if the very idea hadn't strengthened his headache. Tatou padded over to him and he found he didn't really care when she decided his stomach would make a fine bed.

The light of the room began to dim and Hiei began to drift off to sleep easing the pain of his head.

He didn't register the banging at the door before he was out.

When he awoke in the dead darkness of midnight, Tatou was a warm ball on his stomach and his headache was nearly gone. He pulled Tatou up onto his chest, a movement she growled softly at, and sat up. Pitch black, he couldn't see the brick he knew was outside. He placed the dozing animal on the couch before moving to the darkened window. Hiei sat in the sill and let his forehead touch the glass pane. His mind went back in the darkness. In his head, he was there no more.

--

That day he came back to himself and looked over his shoulder to find Botan staring into his face. She spoke to him, but Hiei wasn't really listening. He spotted more papers on the table. New ones, the finished now gone. So, feeling strangely calm, Hiei listened to Botan and watched Tatou and the Guide interact. He waited and watched and when she had concluded the visit, ending with her worry and big smiles, Hiei wandered to the table that held new documents. The top was a thick folder, papers nearly spilling from inside. He opened it and dug in, feeling himself working on auto pilot as if he was a bystander.

It almost felt like the only way to get through.

And thus he would go through his papers like that, with his mind far off. And it continued, until once he pulled himself together for Botan and her visit, and realized he'd forgotten the crash and looked almost expectantly for Kurama….he stopped falling so far into the papers.

And now he looked at his half finished pile, supplemented every week with new ones. He'd met the messenger too and the smile was starting to get strained as he handed back papers in record times. Score one for annoying the hell out of Fable. Hiei picked up the next paper without looking at it, almost too busy as he attempted to keep Tatou's claws from digging into his leg again. No matter how many times he had put her down, she leapt back up and those nails of her were getting more annoying with each movement. The paper he held folded over with weight attached to the top.

It was another note card and with what had become habit, he began to read it while roughly scratching Tatou in some form of unconscious payback.

…..but he stopped half way through and closed his eyes, shaking his head. He reopened his eyes and began the narrative again. Only to find himself stopping even earlier then before. Something was off with the clear print written in black ink. He'd begun to notice wordings that were far off. The use of words that hadn't been used before. That the writer had strived to go around. And now they were in print right in front of him. Shaking his head again, he jumped straight to the report its' self. So he had read a few dozen note cards, it didn't mean the subtle nuances of the writers themselves had been revealed to him.

But the next one held the same problems. And the one after that. And he found more discrepancies. Many, some in the handwriting, which he could look back to from his pile of finished work that had not yet been collected. And then other little things that his mind told him were wrong. These people, this team, was supposedly working in the very northern part of England, finding many things written only in Gaelic from whatever they were searching and watching and trying to diffuse. Certain things did not match from what had been reported of their surroundings. He continued to go through his pile, no longer caring to work through the papers in order, or any kind of order whatsoever. He found a few more note card laden papers. And still things did not match. He spread them out on the table, keeping the 'correct' ones apart from the strange ones. And he looked at them, just ran his eyes all over them. Something wasn't right…

"These aren't the same people….."

Redemption

Sorry this is a little later then the last few, but I'm not worried cause it works perfectly for me. I'll be gone from June 7th to June 15th to Peru! So that'll be my break between chapters this time.

And Hiei is feeling just a bit off character when alone, but I'm attempting to have him just a little more open alone and in character as completely as possible when around others. And if anything else in the story is a little wonky, or inconsistent, please let me know. See you soon!


	9. Technological Difficulites

-1**Rama_chan_chan: **Yes, yes, and yes….Tatou is some sort of canine…of the demonic variety. The reason for the chasing? That unfortunately comes later. Thanks for the review, you were quite right!

--

_Elisha Gray submitted a patent in the 1870's for a machine that would transmit sound electrically. So did Alexander Graham Bell. Everyone knows Graham Bell invented the telephone. Few realize, he beat Gray by an hour. And unless you're pre-law or something, you probably don't know about the ensuing patent battle either. Again, Graham Bell won. Now since that time, people have made the first call across a continent, the first one across the vast ocean. Phones have been bulky and stuck to walls and any one way past the stories of "When _I _was a kid…" would tell you of a time when an entire building would share a phone line. Now though, some places have more phone lines then they know what to do with, phones are smaller, thinner. All the more easy to loose. But that doesn't really matter. None of it does. Not when the people who made the thing, aren't even your kind. And especially not when one look at the thing makes you want to throw it out the window._

~*~Chapter 8; Technological Difficulties~*~

"_Don't move._" Tatou stopped, two paws lifted into the air and no longer even twitching her ears. Hiei hadn't looked up but simply pointed a calloused finger and thrown a harsher tone to his already deep, harsh voice. The papers were stacking up and no doubt were starting another journey of gathering dust. Three weeks, he'd waited three weeks and looked through all the papers he was given almost wondering if it was a fluke that he'd noticed the changes on the note cards.

But the more note cards that filtered in through his locked apartment, the more likely that it wasn't the case.

Because nothing changed, nothing went back and it was all worse. As though whoever faked these notes, these reports, no longer tried to hide the inconsistencies. Hiei leaned back against the dinning room wall. He held the latest card in his hands, just staring at it. There wasn't much else he could do, was there? So he had proven (within his own mind at least) that something was clearly wrong with the reports, or should he say the personal note cards, he had been given. Hiei tossed the note card half heartedly and watched in annoyance as it fluttered down to the paper cluttered floor gently.

The fire demon swallowed back an angry sound before reaching again for the infuriating papers, trying to find the answer to what he was supposed to _do _with the knowledge he had. He didn't want to stay on this mystery.

A throat was cleared loudly to his left. Hiei didn't bother to move his head to search out the sound's origin. Hide the lock to his apartment they could, sneak up on him they would never manage. It was the same man as always. And as whenever he came back, there were more papers. Less then usual though and he eyed the undone piles with distaste. He eyed the entire place with distaste, demon and animal included. Hiei kept his lips from tugging upwards as when the messenger tried to walk further into the room, Tatou tried to trip him. The animal went to it with a single mindedness that spoke to so much more then coincidence.

The visitor was careful to step around Hiei's stacks of finished, unfinished, and interest sorted reports and requests. He placed the new papers on the nearly clear coffee table and almost whispered,

"I've more papers for you from Branch Head Webber. Assuming, of course, you've finished any since I last brought some…though that doesn't seem likely at all, now does it?" Hiei said nothing to the obvious barb, though he did cock his head in the direction of the few papers he had finished that also sat on the table. There was no reason to retort, as it was much more interesting to watch the man dance as Tatou had found his shoes quite interesting and was trying to nibble on them.

The fire demon forgot for a moment the paper piles and all their problems watching his 'guest' dance out the door and Tatou huffing after him. The brown animal came back with her ears hanging and tail listless to hide against Hiei's side. With a smug smirk Hiei smoothed the animal's fur,

"Good girl."

--

She couldn't get off her oar. Not unless she decided to stand on the table in her shoes. Though she wondered if a person whose favorite entrance was an upper story window would really care. The Ferry Guide stayed on her oar though, rather then tempt fate with a demon she would never be able to read. Said demon was currently sitting in the very middle of various spread reports. Botan floated closer to the ground. The only acknowledgement of her presence was Tatou, who carefully, though with wiggling enthusiasm, picked her way towards the kimono clad woman.

"Hiei…? What's with all the papers everywhere?" She expected no answer and received none. With cotton candy eyes she scanned the dining room and the floor covered in papers. Some were piled, some were single sheets but there was hardly a couple inches, if that even, between any two papers or piles.

Tatou nudged her sandal shod foot and looked up at her expectantly. She was about to ruffle her fur when she heard the familiar deep voice she hadn't expected to her at all during her visit much as she hadn't in weeks.

"…hand me that paper behind your foot." Botan jerked her head back towards Hiei, her hand hovering an inch from Tatou's head.

"Wh-what?" Her mouth wasn't working.

"The paper directly behind your foot, hand it to me." Hiei held out a calloused curse wrapped hand to her. Botan blinked and looked behind her, bending to see the paper on the floor just behind her foot. Grasping her oar tighter, she lean back to reach for it with one hand. With wide eyes she handed it to the dark haired demon.

Hiei hadn't stopped staring at the same three reports, all tagged with the telltale note card, when he had reached and taken the paper from the confused Ferry girl.

"Hiei? What are you doing?" She watched garnet eyes scan over the paper he had requested, no apparent answer coming. Staying rooted to her oar, the good natured Guide moved to hover above him again taking in the disarray of papers on the dining room floor. There was a stack beside Hiei, all with note cards attached, with many more stacks farther away from him. Those closest to him….Botan blinked. Those closest to him were contact sheets….many, many different contact sheets. She peered to the one she had handed him, leaning over and attempting to read the paper he still held upside down. She peered for a while, squinting her eyes as if it would help her but it was no use; the characters on the little sheet made no sense to her.

She floated down closer to Hiei, in front of him now. She was worried. It was growing in the pit of her stomach, and each time she showed up, it just got worse. Botan began to focus on the floor trying to think, trying to help somehow. Finally, she looked up and focused on him again.

"What _are _you doing? Please, Hiei…" With an annoyed twitched to his lips, Hiei looked up at her. He gestured to the papers, and began to fall backwards with Tatou jumping to land on his chest.

"I'm trying to pass this _shit _off on someone else already…" and with that ran his hands down Tatou's back to the animal's happy sigh.

--

Botan had left confused (and nearly giggling in his frank reply and almost tender touches to which Tatou would not stop sighing under) leaving Hiei to come to his decision in peace.

A wheezing sigh left Tatou.

Well, _almost _in peace. Damned if he was never left alone any more!

It appeared he had no real alternative. He'd gone over _everything._ Every paper left inside his little hell hole, every paper left with him on his first incarceration, (because he'd be damned if he was nothing short of a prisoner with in these walls) and nothing was getting him out of this _mess!_ There were three options, two of which were null and void for him. With annoyance he looked to a little side table, on which was he only option. He'd never exactly been good with human technologies. And dammit if he and telephones just did not get along. Maybe if he burned the papers (and maybe melted the telephone for good measure) it'd all go away.

~*~Redemption~*~

If anyone heard her shriek up the hall, she was going to flatly deny it with all the determination in her slightly plump, Latina body. She was **not **jumpy from what had happened South of the Border three weeks ago, she most certainly was **not**. She reached for the telephone, and found empty desktop.

"…mierda." Josefina Garcia muttered. Three weeks and she still couldn't remember that this was her new office in Washington state….not her former room for the Tech Expert in Mexico City. This was her new little office, hardly set up for the equipment she was used to running or ready for the constant use of electricity and outlets. And her phone, the lifeline to the "real world", was not sitting to her left as it should be.

In fact, as the tech expert pulled her eyes from the screen of her computer, the ringing phone wasn't in sight. Her little desk was still covered in half connected electronics and papers Garcia feared were simply duplicates of the ones she knew by heart in Spanish back in the Mexico City building, now written out in English.

"_No soy un _newbie," she whispered, mixing her Spanish and English as she had for years. In exasperation, as the telephone continued to ring hidden from her, Garcia flung papers away trying to get to the desktop beneath it. Her chair swiveled as she went from one half of her desk to the other. Finally she grabbed a hard drive and carefully placed it on the floor. Behind it was the old looking corded phone and with a smile she reached for it, only to realize that it had already stopped ringing.

She cursed, hanging her head.

--

The phone stood in a prominent place on the desk now, and if she was looking at her monitor it would be to her left as it was supposed to be. She'd cleared papers away from the device as well as a few different pieces of her technological 'kit'. So what if it littered the floor a little now? The more sensitive equipment wasn't in front of the door and who really cared if some duplicate papers got a little wrinkled? The room had more of a feel of ease now and Garcia was beginning to feel better herself. With that ease beginning to make its way through her body and relaxing the tension she'd felt since her transfer, the curvy Latina had set about trying to set up some of her more needed equipment.

Thus after pulling her chocolate colored hair back, Garcia settled herself under her desk to slowly but surely connect wires to outlets and get her stuff back up and running. It was soothing this work, easy and familiar. And so she was spending much of her time switching this cord for that one and plugging that processor in to this socket because up top, it would just flow better for work. So far into her element, what was the rest of the world faded from her mind.

Until the phone.

Again.

When her mind registered the noise, Garcia bolted for it immediately…only to hit her head on the desk above her. She clutched her pigtailed head for a moment as the pain radiated. She tried to shake it off when the phone rang again and turned underneath the desk to get out. She encountered her swivel chair nearly locked into place by wires and her unhooked equipment. For a moment she was at a loss of getting to the phone before it stopped. The phone rang again and she pulled herself through the gap the chair made between the desk and itself. She stretched for it, unable to pull any more of her curvy body through the opening. She placed her hand on the phone when it stopped, mid-ring.

--

She had stopped, stopped everything she was doing. She was beyond paranoid now. Every time she got into something the phone would ring and something would be in her way. She'd left for a small lunch break only to return as the phone rang one last time before whoever was on the other line gave up again. But Garcia had fixed that, oh yes, she had fixed that little problem. There would be no more of this. She'd gotten rid of the old telephone, or more accurately, she'd left it in the break room and she'd 're-commissioned' one of the many from the front desk. It was of a newer model and with her expertise she'd managed a few "adjustments". Her problem was now no more. Yet, she didn't do anything, not until she knew that this set up would work.

But in a second there was ringing in her ears and she tapped the appropriate button, relief flooding her as the jury-rigged phone worked.

"You wanted me to call?"

"_Si._"

"That all?" There was a little annoyance on the other end.

"_Si, _thank you!" And Garcia hung up before the man she'd bribed to call her could react. With a smile Garcia adjusted the new headset on her head, careful of her glasses, and finally the Latina felt like she could work.

And she did for an hour, before the phone rang. This time, it was unplanned. She took a deep breath with a new smile budding on her face and hit a button on the phone's cradle.

"_Hol_-" she bit her lip before starting over, "Hello? You got a problem I bet I can fix it!" On the other end was shuffling papers and nails on hard floors. The sounds of someone scrambling after being left on hold one to many times and expecting little more then to be transferred again.

"Uh…..oh shit……" the voice on the other end was deep, holding the barest hint of an accent.

"Hello? I bet you've been on hold a while, huh? What's going on over there?" There was no answer from the caller yet, but more papers shuffled across the line.

"…..what department is this…." The deep voice was now soft and filled with barely hidden annoyance.

"I'm Head of the Tech Department," Garcia still felt the swelling pride at announcing the position she had only attained a few short years ago. And again there was silence on the other end.

"….those damn fu-, _sorry_," the caller ground out in clear annoyance, "I'll be trying again…..damnit," the last comment seemed directed to someone else and not her.

"Hey! Don't hang up, really! I told you I bet I can fix your problem. Give me a chance here!" There was silence again, no telltale click of the phone disconnecting. Garcia had to figure the small sound, noncommittal and by no means a word, was all in her head for its softness or a simple blurb of static.

"I know they transferred you to me to get rid of you, but I'll find a way to help if you let me…if you've hung on this long, its has to be important."

"….I'd imagine there's a couple lives at stake, yes."

--

Hiei flicked the antenna. Or whatever the hell it could be called. The plastic abomination spun on the wooden coffee table and he watched as Tatou eyed it greedily. He flicked it again and made it spin, debating letting her have it. And maybe it would all go away. And maybe Kurama would walk out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, cock his hips and say something remarkably stupid. Or Tatou would bump him nose to nose and speak in a soothing alto voice and a southern drawl.

He spun the phone again.

In reality, Hiei was waiting for it to make that annoying sound again, for it to ring. Though he had no reason to believe that it would. If there was a number for this location, he certainly didn't know it. And if he didn't know, and this was supposedly a 'safe house', then how was someone supposed to get the number to make the blasted, plastic thing shriek?

Tatou lunged for the phone. He bopped her on the head. She whined and whimpered and eyed the phone hungrily again.

"Hey, if those damn note cards hadn't been keeping my sani-….keeping me entertained, I'd let you have it. Believe me." Hiei got up, limped to the kitchen while sending back over his shoulder a look especially for Tatou. He grabbed the glass of water he'd left there during one of his long, long, _long_ bouts with the plastic menace of his current living arrangements. He leaned against the counter to take the weight off his stiffened leg and sipped the water. What was he thinking, what was he doing? For the love of everything, why did he seem to care?! There had to be more to it then this, more to it then what the note cards….meant.

It'd happened with the newbie agent in Japan…now again here with even less reasoning behind it…

Things like this wouldn't have happened before the crash…these things would have been restricted only to…

"Yukina…" Hiei placed his head in his free hand and gripped the glass tighter. What was happening with Yukina…all the way back there? He'd…oh gods…he'd….the hand gripping his glass shook. Before he could force himself to finish the thought there was the sound of claws on wood.

With a twitch of an eyebrow, Hiei started back to the living room ready to grab Tatou and toss her behind the couch.

What he found was Tatou lazily laying on the table, with the phone nowhere in sight. He limped to her and was about to take her by the scruff of her fluffy neck when the phone shrilled its call….muffled by the fluffy body weight of the animal on top of it. Tatou let out a yip octaves too high and jumped up and off of the shaking plastic that sang cruelly. He grabbed it while Tatou cowered behind his legs and after a moment of staring at its key pad, turned it on.

_"¡Hola! Tengo las noticias malas…" _With Hiei's silence, the woman on the other line continued, "I have some bad news…" She let the sentence hang only long enough to sink in.

"I was right about that shoving you about and sending you to the Tech Department after many long holds to get you to give up thing. They don't really think you have a claim for the vague details you've given. Actually, I think you gave me more then anyone else….But the good news? They don't know _me_. I think you've got a claim and I'm not giving up as long as you give me information to use. You will, _no_?" Hiei brought the phone away from his ear, looking to the piles of papers and note cards and _questions_.

"As….much as I…can say." He ground it out unwillingly. Was there no chance to pass this off and forget?

_"¡Bien!_ What's you're name? Everything sounds better if it doesn't sound like it was pulled form thin air. And I'd feel better if I knew it, kinda like you're real….not that you aren't real!" Hiei leaned his forehead against the window of the living room. The cool, unbreakable glass-like substance was almost…nice against his always heated skin. And distracting…

"I'm no one, nothing…especially in this and for you right now." Somehow instead of sounding offended by his rude and cold reaction to such a simple request, the Tech Expert laughed just a little.

"_Bueno, Nada…_I can work with that. I'm Garcia," she laughed again, "You sound like someone I met before, you know that?"

--

There were too many papers. Too many papers and too many rooms in the apartment and too many places to stash things. He had the papers he needed all over the place now. He'd taken this stack over there and that stack over here while trying to figure it all out. So he was again, going through every room trying to find the stack he needed this time. Hiei wasn't so impressed with his current organizational skills. Not that he'd really had a need for organizational skills in the terms of a _shit load _of papers before….His hand twitched with the thought of burning it all, but instead tightened his hands into fists so hard the nails dug into his skin. He walked with a stiff posture to grab the phone he had put down to search.

The Tech Expert (Garcia, was it?), was rambling on and on at the other end. She didn't seem to be talking through the phone to him, though he began to listen nonetheless.

"…hmm, that could be a good choice. Having him do it wouldn't cause any _problemas, pero no sé…_" Hiei rubbed his temples.

"…I've got the papers you want." Garcia perked up on the other end.

"¡_Bueno, bueno! _Read them to me please? Where were they and what were they doing?" The fire demon let out something of a sigh and scanned the paper to give out the answers. This nonsense of question and answer was getting them no where.

"Four man team, three women and one man, up in the northern portion of the…United Kingdom." Hiei raised an eyebrow at the country name…a _united _kingdom…_sure_….

"So, Scotland? Would that be it?"

"Hn, apparently."

"Well, there's a few non-UK branch teams in Scotland right now….. _Siete equipos activos…y dos equipos… se acaban…" _Hiei put the phone down to catch Tatou from jumping on his papers. She was muttering to herself again…wouldn't it be easier just to give her the damn papers and be done with this? He wanted nothing to do with it any longer. He picked the plastic contraption up again reluctantly to catch the end of the next sentence directed at him.

"…papers before you were transferred?" With no answer, Garcia continued her thought.

"Because if you didn't, then your information must be bad. There's no Japanese Fable agents in Scotland right now…but if you started getting these papers afterwards, then there's a couple possibilities….why are you getting these papers anyways?" Hiei leaned his head against the window. He didn't answer and for a long moment, there was silence.

"_Sí…usted es nada, su trabajo es nada…Entiendo…_was there a city or place mentioned?"

"I'll look." And their conversation was over.

--

The Ferry Guide watched from the dining room entrance. She hadn't been noticed yet…even Tatou was still beside the grumpy fire demon. The little animal was ignoring her soundly. She watched a curse wrapped hand dig through one pile of papers while the other pushed Tatou to the floor and away from another pile she had been eyeing. Botan turned to hide back out of the doorway, and from Hiei's sight, and took a deep breath.

"Hiei!" Grinning she bounced into the room. Hiei looked up with a slight twitch to his eye and a tighter grip on the papers in his hands. Botan giggled, her fake, plastered on smile becoming real. The atmosphere in the apartment was lighter then the last time she had dropped in on him. The rustle of papers pried her eyes open. Hiei was flipping to another paper in his piles, a garnet eye flickered to her before scanning the page. The Ferry Guide wandered up and peeked at the reports.

"What is all of this Hiei?" He didn't give a verbal answer but shifted and waved a hand distractedly at another pile of papers. It would be a wild goose chase, as he well knew, to find the full answer in the stacks around him, but it would distract her for the moment Hiei told himself.

The cotton candy eyed woman picked up the first paper of the stack and blinked slowly, tilting her head to the side in confusion. She scanned down to the bottom half of the page, where it finally slipped out of meaningless jargon and words she'd never seen before and into something she could understand. When she hit 'United Kingdom', she turned to Hiei and started a question. But then there was the sound of soft tissue hitting hard wood, papers were flying everywhere, and now Tatou lay on the formally stacked papers. She stared at the creature, whose tail wagged with enough force to disrupt papers behind her. And as Botan freaked out, trying to move the stubborn animal, Hiei had stopped on another paper.

Garnet eyes shut for a moment and then he was speed reading down the document a second time. He stopped again, near the bottom. A smirk came to his face and he read through the last paragraph slowly. He had it, the operation command center was in the very northern tip of Scotland.

Botan let go a startled sound, Tatou yelped and the side table fell to the floor, scattering its papers. Hiei bit the inside of his cheek at the pair of 'innocent' faces.

~*~Redemption~*~

She'd been forced to get out an atlas. Or rather a search engine and a few virtual counterparts. Because really, there was no room for actual maps inside her dinky little abode now. Hazel eyes behind oval lenses searched out the name her informant had provided her. _Thurso…_He'd been forced to spell it and now Garcia was quite grateful for it. It was a city in the very northern tip of mainland Scotland, near the Duncansby Head. The most northerly mainland city and holding many ancient places and even a name falling back to almost Viking origins, Garcia understood the idea that something that would concern Fable would be found in Thurso.

….Wasn't there someone she knew, sitting idle in England? She racked her brain, tapping lacquered nails against her keyboard. She knew there was someone there she'd met on a border problem back when she had first started. Actually he had first started then too. She smiled and reached for the number pad on her phone.

--

The phone on the hotel bedside table rang and jolted the occupant awake.

"Mary, Mother of God…." the man mumbled without much thought. He reached for the ringing phone between an empty shot glass and half full liquor bottle. He grasped it and pulled it to his ear, knocking a ring to the floor.

"Hello…?" There was a giggle at the other end and the squeak of a rolling chair. Confusion wrinkled his forehead.

"Jose?"

_"Hey, hey! I thought we agreed! You call me Garcia and I _promised _I wouldn't' call you G-,"_ the man shot up and cut the enthusiastic Latina off.

"Please don't!!"

_"Then remember I'm Garcia……and I need _un favor pequeño_…" _The hotel occupant raked his brain for his high school Spanish.

"A small favor?" It was too early to be remembering a foreign language with this kind of headache.

_"_Sí, _I need you to a take a train into Scotland. Please?" _He rubbed the bridge of his nose and thought for a moment.

"Sure Garcia, after all I still owe you, don't I?"

--

Garcia leaned back in her computer chair. With her contact, and old friend, on his way by train to the northern tip of Scotland, there was little more for her to do for the moment. She debated calling her hesitant, and rude, informant back, to let the older man know that someone was on their way to the location in question. But she came to the conclusion there wasn't much point in doing so. Her contact sounded more and more agitated with each phone call.

"Maybe,….he's somewhere on assignment and its too dangerous to have too many phone calls?" Garcia looked up at the water stained ceiling. She screwed up her mouth as she thought.

"Maybe…." She broke into giggles. Maybe he was just some low level intern agent digging through his superior's papers.

~*~Redemption~*~

There was no sleeping tonight. While he was no stranger to long, pitch black nights where sleep was a far off dream, tonight was worse. It echoed the worst of the nights he spent alone. Where closing his eyes brought back, unbidden, scenes he didn't want to think of with his eyes too heavy with sleep. It brought back sounds to his ears that had nothing to do with insects, wind or other nightly sounds. And tonight it brought back the blinding flashes and the squealing noises and left with matted hair and blood and pieces of glass and the sound of a slowly stopping heart beat.

Hiei sat up from the living room's carpeted floor. One last pile of unfinished reports were beside him and Tatou batted around a pencil nearby. He watched her as lightning flashed and a predicted storm rumbled in. There wouldn't be sleep for him tonight….as if there ever was anymore. How _stupid _could he have been, to give so much of himself away that he could no longer even _function?_

~*~Redemption~*~

With as much time as he had just spent on various trains and other transportation, he could at least of been standing in a homeland airport…instead of the far north wilds of Scotland in a city where he was about as out of place as they came. He placed a hand to his stomach as it growled. Maybe stopping into a diner first would get him somewhere? At least he'd get out with a full stomach…

And so Garcia's contact started into the nearest diner…puzzling through where to start with the conundrum the tech savvy woman had left him with. The American agent knew not where to begin.

He walked out of the diner an hour later with a full stomach, a churning idea, and a need to figure out what had been in that stew!

--

Hiei sat tossing an apple with the gleaming, glinting eyes of Tatou following his every move. He had the phone nearby, his stack of unfinished (and now nearly ruined) papers closer still and a now nearly blunt and unusable pencil laying on top of them. He tossed the apple over and over, it was from the newest batch of groceries dropped off by the delivery boy. He had finally found a way to keep Tatou away from him. She'd eaten her apple core and all. He caught the apple one more time and bolted straight upright. He got to the kitchen and tossed Tatou another apple before taking a bite from his own.

"Someone should be there by now, huh girl?" Tatou looked up with a bit of apple sticking to her lip. She cocked her head at him and then tossed her head up and down before diving for the apple again. Hiei sunk down next to her, eating slowly.

A week, or maybe it was two, passed in a manner where nothing but his apartment existed.

--

He'd never headed a mission before. It must not have shown, as the younger agents behind him, the only ones he could get to help him, followed his every order with out complaint. Though it was clear they were careful to think it through first. The American agent's heart was pounding and the gun was heavy in his hands. The door before him was ominous but it was the last option currently before him, and the last chance this branch of Fable would afford him. His lips moved in a prayer and with the slightest motion of his armed hand, the agent beside him broke down the door.

They rushed in with guns and other weapons brandished and ready. The agent who had broken down the door had already started the shift between his human shell and the horned form of his realm.

They rushed with care between the rooms and down the halls. One pair found lesser demons in another room, half way ready to ambush their ambushers. But the large mace wielded one handedly and their own weapons being jerked from their hands stalled them.

The leader continued down the halls and more worthless captors, there for big voices and thick bodies meant to keep the stolen agents from working up the courage to fight back, were hardly worth the space they took up. It was nothing. The final door and he broke it down himself with adrenaline pumping through his veins. He turned and leveled his gun inside the bright, high ceiling room.

With the horridly shaky breath he released, his gun was lowered. Before him were the agents, roughed up and suffering from malnutrition. But they were alive and ready to attack him with makeshift weapons. The moment stood still, and then one fainted and another dropped to the floor in sheer relief. The American agent grabbed his communicator and spoke,

"Got 'em."

--

The phone rang.

He groped for it without opening his eyes and found Tatou instead.

Grabbing the contraption, he fumbled with the buttons, eyes still closed.

Finally it was on,

"We have them-,"

And he let it fall, the plastic melting into thick globs of color.

--

Its late. I know its late!!! I went to Peru in June and completely lost my groove for writing…I hated it but with band and my own procrastination, it took me a while to get this finished and corrected…..umm…enjoy?

Oh and if the Spanish is too hard or if you simply don't get it or don't want to, I can add in translations.

I'm going to try to get this back on track, I swear! Thanks for reading!


	10. Consequences

_For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. This is Newton's Third Law of Motion. Others may cite karma, the essence of good and bad deeds of past lives, coming back to influence their lives. Or even more simple, what comes around, goes around. Consequences. Every action has one and whether it is good or bad is decided by the original happening. Sometimes, what someone believes will be the consequences, simply aren't. We believe that we are doing something good, but when it comes time for those around us to see it too, they cannot. Then the reaction, the karma, the consequences start. A loss of trust here, a financial problem there, a friendship suddenly gone. One may never know what will come of the action until it happens. The definitions of right and wrong vary more than one could possibly perceive. _

~*~Chapter 9; Consequences~*~

She was livid. If there was one thing the poor secretary knew, it was that his boss was absolutely livid. He had been her secretary for years now, certainly much longer than other secretaries to high ranking Fable agents, but he still had never seen her quite this angry. And as Tyler Ramirez knew, Headwoman Webber had been through some of the worst scandals in the current history of the Fable agency. Currently, few would realize that the middle aged woman was near her tolerance threshold for blame and yelling. The West Coast Director was none too happy with what had happened under the command of Ramirez's boss.

He had nothing else to do lying on his desk now. He'd spent the morning getting it all done in an effort to not listen in on the conversation. Now mid afternoon, and all files had been done, all missions handed out, and other such things that came down from the director had been taken care of by his lunch hour. And with lunch now gone, he had taken to finishing up little things he had been meaning to do since his employment at this headquarters. Unfortunately it didn't stop him from being able to catch snaps of what was going on in the office beside him. And it just didn't sound good to him. He looked up from fixing a drawer in his old desk to find his Headwoman going through the closing procedures of her teleconference. All the standard pleasantries, and then Iris Webber was bursting out of her office doors, pinning him with her stare. She swallowed forcibly and dredged up a hard smile for her secretary.

"Would you please get our new Technology Expert up to my office before she leaves for the day?" Tyler nodded quickly and reached for his phone. Oh yes, his boss was most certainly livid.

--

With Spanish music coming with a quick, wondrous beat from her speakers, Garcia was feeling almost languid. She was fixing up the last of the coding she wanted, needed, in her newest computer (though she wished they hadn't insisted on a new one in the first place), and was generally enjoying the feeling of a mission well done. She had heard again from her friend, now taking a break in Scotland before heading Stateside (for real this time, he'd insisted). He'd made her promise not to get him caught up in more junk with the excuse that his sister was home, for once, at the same time as he was. She didn't buy it for a second. According to his file, he was an only child. She'd let him go only after making sure of the details of what had taken place, and teasing him mercilessly over what he _really_ wanted the break for. It still made her giggle with the way the man had stuttered.

Any talk of the dating sent the man into red faced stuttering. It was too much fun to not tease him some.

A shiver ran through her and an instant later her phone rang through her headset. She hesitated for a moment, something feeling off. Tapping her lacquered nails carefully on the answering button for the headset she waited through a few more rings. It stopped and the tension that had gripped her stomach faded.

Within the next half hour, she finished her coding, logged out, and slipped out of the building unseen. Her motto, if something feels terribly wrong, go somewhere else. Ten minutes later her phone would ring again in her office.

In the next hour, the entire building would be aware of Headwoman Webber's intent to speak with the new tech. They shivered from the tone she had used, and wished the Latina woman good luck.

~*~Redemption~*~

It was sunny. That fact alone was almost amazing. The warmth of it was another. And the last miracle his fuzzy, happy mind could register was that the sun could even shine through the pitiful window and his brick wall view. The fire demon was feeling lazy, an idea that sent nerves racing through his body. Hiei was lying in the sun; eyes closed with Tatou a warm, fluffy ball beside his ear. He could hear her breathing every few seconds and little else. He'd been ignoring the paperwork for the past few days. Since he had gotten confirmation of the rescue, he'd felt no need to finish any of it now.

And the warm, beautiful sunlight was too tempting for anything other than laying in it wasting the day away. It was a simple pleasure he'd hardly, if ever his fuzzy mind reminded him, indulged in. It was finally an answer to why he had encountered many of the fire demons in his life in warm, sunny areas. Everything had gone well, somehow he knew that. He hadn't been let in on many of the details of the rescue up in Scotland, by his own choice, but there was a general sense of well done completion trickling down the line to him.

His hand twitched when he recognized the energy at his door. The agent who brought the files to him. The agent knocked on the door as a courtesy but nothing more for he was in far quicker than Hiei could have gotten to the door. Since the accident. A frown marred his contentment of lying in the sun when the other cleared his throat loudly. Hiei didn't move though he felt Tatou look up.

"You haven't done any work." The fire demon took a trick from Tatou's book and simply huffed instead of dredging up the use of his vocal cords. He'd never thought the agent was worth acknowledgement, let alone an actual answer.

"Get off your lazy ass and finish up these files. They're piling up and you certainly haven't done any since your _escapade_." The tone of voice and general disgust prompted Hiei to open his blood red eyes. The Fable agent was looking down his nose at the surviving detective. Tatou stepped over Hiei and started to growl. He heard the agent take a step back. A small, almost horrible grin came to Hiei's face. All warm, lazy feelings from the sun began to fade.

"I can't control her, you know."

--

Tatou had taken up residence on his chest. She huffed in discontentment even now. The Fable lackey had high tailed it from the apartment in the moment Tatou had bared her teeth. A smirk lifted his lips for a moment. The other had not remembered to leave the newest papers. Unfortunately that meant he'd be back sooner rather than later. Hiei dragged his hand down the animal's back, haphazardly trying to calm her. Her half growls did nothing for recapturing the feeling of the warm sunlight. Tatou curled up finally. He'd have to hold her back from now on. The fire demon opened his eyes.

What had he meant by his _escapade_?

He had done nothing. Nothing since he'd tried to "run". Okay….he'd "neglected" some papers. They weren't the first and they wouldn't be the last. From him or anyone. And besides…he just didn't do paperwork, it was only a waste of time, slowing you down and possible causing harm to whatever you were trying to accomplish.

Hiei sat up slowly, catching Tatou as she panicked. _Maybe…_ A searching look came to his face. _Unless…._ The only possible thing… was the rescue. Something wasn't right.

~*~Redemption~*~

Garcia was hesitant, to say the least, to reenter the Fable building the following Monday. She'd had the weekend off, had unplugged her phone and spent her time catching up with her old friends and comrades across the world through her laptop. But the feeling she had left the office with had not totally faded. She'd avoided the 'ping' of her email when all the messages had been from Fable's disguised address.

Now she was standing on the threshold of her office, staring at the blinking light indicating messages on her answering machine. It brought back the feeling tenfold to sit heavily in the pit of her stomach. She shuffled into the room turning on the computer as she went. It seemed as if it booted up as reluctantly as she'd come to the office. She was about to place her headset shakily on, when someone knocked on her door. Garcia gulped, the feeling in her stomach making her queasy.

"The Headwoman is looking for you." The voice sounded as worried as she felt. She turned to find one of the lower tech agents standing at her door. The Latina brushed her bangs from her face in mild relief.

"I don't know what they want," he said shakily, holding himself up with the door, "but they haven't sounded happy all weekend."

"_¿Está seguro?_" she asked without thinking. The other nodded so vigorously his blond hair was tossed about.

"Y-you should get out of here then," she said with a smile she didn't feel.

"You and anyone else who doesn't want to be in this, understand?" His eyes widened, he nodded again, and rushed from the doorway.

Garcia turned back around and resolutely started working at her computer. If they wanted her, they'd have to come get her. Garcia wasn't going up to that office without a fight!

--

Garcia didn't make it to lunch. Fifteen minutes before she started her lunch break they had come for her. The headwoman's secretary and two agents higher ranking then the tech expert could ever hope to be. But it wasn't those two who worried her, hell they escorted people who were chronically late for assignments. They were never necessarily a bad thing. Having the headwoman's secretary come for you though, the people here told her, was never good.

It was a step away from having her come to you herself.

"So, what does Headwoman Webber want with me?" She didn't turn to the secretary, but whispered to one of the agents. The other agent looked to the secretary subtly, finding him engaged with getting the elevator to the right floor.

"Something to do with the rescue you started," was whispered back to her hurriedly. When the elevator lurched into action, Garcia's mind began to race, race to all the names of the people she couldn't say, all the people she sincerely hoped wouldn't be drawing _any_ attention to themselves for….oh say a few _months_. She knew Techs could stay off the radar easily enough, most did it every day, but she worried for the agents in the UK who had offered their services. She looked to the floor and her glasses began to slip down her nose.

She worried more for her friend. He would have no one to band with against accusations. And she had no way to warn him.

The elevator lurched at its stop, jarring them. The secretary muttered something about getting it fixed. Garcia took a deep breath as she was escorted to the office. There was one way she could keep the headwoman from discovering too much. She wondered idly if the other knew any Spanish beyond 'hello'.

~*~Redemption~*~

Tatou cocked her head and gave a little huff at him. Apparently this attempt was too obvious as well. Hiei pulled himself from his cramped hiding spot. He got to the middle of the room and began scanning it again. He needed to be able to hide in the room; he needed to be able to listen in when the lackey came back. And that wouldn't happen if Tatou was in the open, cocking her head and huffing at his hiding spot.

"C'mere," he grabbed her before she could run. He gave a glance at the couch, figuring that hiding behind it would probably give enough space for them both. But as he moved to get behind it, to hide and wait for the Fable agent who took much too much joy from his job, Tatou moved awkwardly in his arms. It sent Hiei off balance, he caught himself but his leg went the wrong way. The pain that went up the nerves in his right leg sent the fire demon down to the ground with clenched teeth.

He had been wandering about the apartment without his cane for weeks now… some days it hurt like hell and it wasn't worth moving. But using that detested cane wasn't worth it in the apartment. Yet he had been feeling so good. It figured, he'd forgotten about it, ignored it… and now… it just _figured_. He got back to his feet quickly by sheer force of determination alone. Hiei limped his way over and slipped behind the couch. He sat down heavily, it seemed like his leg didn't want to move in any direction happily. Hiei was ready to wait the other out. Hell it'd probably give his crippled leg the rest it apparently desired.

It got a full four hours before the paper work bearing agent showed. Hiei heard the door opening, the first foot steps into the entry way. He tightened his grip on Tatou, who was ready to bolt and take the intruder down. She hadn't started growling yet though, and Hiei hoped it would stay that way.

Explaining a mauling was not in his plans. The agent made his way to the living room and Hiei gripped Tatou tighter as she began to squirm more. The footsteps stopped and Hiei hoped he'd take the bait.

"_The little-,_" Hiei smirked. Perfect. If things went as he hoped, everything was about to be thrown out the window.

The agent was muttering and had dropped the papers into a scattered mess that extended just into Hiei's eyesight behind the couch.

"Sir there's a problem," his voice had gone professional but agitated.

"He's not in the apartment. Either he'd gone for another impromptu run across town or I was right. That rescue, if it really was a rescue, was a cover so he could plan his escape." The lackey began to pace but Tatou had gone eerily still.

"I know it could be a problem. I think it's a very serious problem. He's been through some delicate papers. There are things he knows that would destroy entire _branches_ of this organization."

Hiei set his jaw. He translated those papers, as if he read to remember them. What this agent told his superior was certain to screw him over. He'd gotten enough of this 'red tape handling' between his time on probation and the 'care' they took with him here to understand almost too well what would happen with this. No matter how this went, the restrictions on him would only get tighter. He couldn't be cooped up in this apartment, this city any longer. He'd thought the control in Japan had left him little. This was set to become worse.

The lackey left in a rush, still voicing concerns to his commanding officer across the phone. The door shut and Hiei waited a moment longer before getting out from behind the couch. He dropped Tatou to the floor and clenched his hands. He was lucky they had taken the bait. Lucky that they had spilt their concerns without thinking he could be hiding. Of course his luck had ended there. He ran a hand through his hair. Well, it _had _been quite a streak…

"Hiei!" He turned to the window. Botan slipped into the apartment, jumping from her oar with practiced ease.

Only then did he realize how long it had been since her last appearance.

"I thought I'd leave you alone for a while. You seemed…stressed." Strangely considerate.

"I, umm, I stayed with the girls for a while. They seemed to be holding up. Yukina's well." Hiei looked away as Botan scooped Tatou up into her arms. It had been months since he'd seen Yukina, heard about her. Botan began to chatter. Tatou went from her arms to the couch and then proceeded to scamper up the back of it to sit, whining softly for Botan's attention once more. The guide reached for her, continuing to talk. But Hiei was catching none of it… the fire demon half sat on the arm of the couch and dragged his mind from the picturesque Japanese temple it had created. Now as not the time. If he wanted nothing worse than this little apartment with his brick view, strangely locked doors and Botan's talking away…he needed to find a solution for this mess.

~*~Redemption~*~

There was ringing in her ears, honest to god _ringing_. She was back in the ill functioning elevator with her three, equally stunned, escorts. Headwoman Webber had started in on her the moment the door was shut and the men left in the entry. Garcia hadn't needed to completely fake her hysteria. It had grown in her from the first words, anger barely contained, to flow from the other's mouth. When the branch leader paused for effect, Garcia hadn't even needed to think but fell into her won bumbling speech laden with Spanish beyond a 'dabbler's' comprehension. She had lost her head so quickly in her own babbling, the Latina remembered so little of it she had to pray she had not screwed over all those she had hoped to cover for.

The elevator once again lurched into action, much like, Garcia haphazardly mused, Webber had lurched from her chair after three minutes of nonstop Spanish

"I've…" one of the agents started, still in his daze, "I've never heard the Headwoman…._screech _like that."

"Screech is oddly appropriate," the other whispered. Ramirez, still with a deer in the headlights look simply rubbed a finger in his ear, as though he could clear out the ringing.

The Headwoman had berated the Tech Expert for the next twenty minutes; the last five being filled with hidden threats. None, that she had been aware of, had been threats of bodily harm…her ability to work with in Fable or survive outside of the organization…those had been cleverly disguised. If things even went well. She doubted she would be able to live without looking over her shoulder at every corner. A fate that would be extended to any they could so much as say she had said hello to during the search and rescue effort.

"What the hell did you do?" The taller agent asked.

"_Una cosita_," Garcia whispered back to him. They would get her; a cold feeling in her belly told her that. But she was a step ahead of them. Her computer was clear, as clear as an expert could make it, of those she had contacted to get help.

But for the one who had contacted her…maybe there was a last favor she could do him.

~*~Redemption~*~

The people of sleeping down the hall of the apartment complex hardly heard the door of 22C being kicked in. The agents, one of which had caught the door and kept the noise to a minimum, in a SWAT team like formation began their search, their preferred weapons at the ready. They separated into the kitchenette, the living room, the unused bedroom. Bu there was nothing, even midnight moonlight didn't filter into the brick view window. The single agent with an ear com walked back to the entry way. He touched the com, walking back through and checking in with each agent with a look as the line crackled to life.

"There's no one here." The line came back to life on the other end and then went off again. Headquarters had gotten the message. The head agent motioned for the other to search the apartment again as they waited for further orders. With his back to the window, he couldn't know of the lithe body about to crash into his. He hit the ground, the com knocked from his ear. The nearby agents were quickly knocked asunder as well, the occupant of 22C heading for the door.

Tatou was on his heels, something Hiei only noticed as she almost tripped him. The fire demon didn't have time to think about her, or anything left in the apartment or even where he was going. Out of town was the only mandate, as fast as possible. He passed the mail boxes and got out the door as the remaining agents hit the bottom floor. One broke from the pack, rushing after their fleeing 'protected agent' as the demon put on what speed he could without causing his leg to give. Hiei made a hard turn at the first alley he passed. The agent slid and followed. Hiei felt a throb in his knee at another turn. He was taking them too hard. Another burst of real speed in hopes of losing the agent before his wrongly healed leg truly protested followed.

"Hiei!" The voce was scared and so familiar. It shot straight though him, overriding everything and Hiei skid to a stop. A second later he was forcibly introduced to the brick building he was near.

"I thought you were supposed to be fast?" the woman whispered in to his ear. "That's why they put me in this…raiding team. They told me I would be hard pressed to keep up. Maybe we didn't need the backup plan." She pushed him into the wall again. He heard Tatou snarl and the female agent begin to curse. _Where is she?! Where's Yukina?_

--

Hiei stumbled into the chair set up before the large oak desk. Hands held behind his back with something he'd found himself unable to burn away, the agents of the raiding team had pushed and pulled him to the office as if he couldn't take directions. His body shook with too much energy, he was close to sinking to the level of biting them to get away…if only he knew where Yukina was, if she was truly there…how they had even known that she was something to him. He couldn't risk her.

But they would get hell for using her.

A middle aged woman slipped behind the desk, her face carefully wiped of expression for the moment. But when she sat down, lacing her fingers on the desk, a small, supposedly warm, smile came to her painted lips.

"Hello agent. I am Iris Webber, Headwoman of District One, West Branch of the US. And you, you are one of the most amazing translators this district has ever had the pleasure of working with. You are brilliant, really." The headwoman smiled and Hiei clenched his teeth to hold back a comment that would do him no good.

"That being said," the woman shifted and her look grew coldly professional, "there are several things you need to answer for. You will not be leaving until you have." Hiei rolled his eyes and settled into the chair, cracking tense joints as he did so.

"You mean I won't be leaving until I give you the answers you want." Hiei gave her a feral smirk, "Something tells me that 'I was translating those damn documents, noticed inconsistencies, got some help and in the end caused the rescue of agents this organization didn't even realize were close to being lost and that I don't know what exactly the hell happened in that rescue' is not any part of the answer you want."

"…I'm afraid you are right," the headwoman whispered, "though with some generous details in the right places it could very well be." Hiei exhaled and answered.

"Then it's too damn bad there are no details." The fire demon knew he was no good with words. Over the years he'd learned he was much better at infuriating other then could ever be at really reasoning with them. That…that had been Kurama…hell even Yusuke or Kuwabara in a pinch. Never him. Reasoning was a fluke with him. And as the woman across the desk morphed, Hiei decided it was for a good reason.

~*~Ispirkimas~*~

Hiei nearly retched when he was tossed into the dust covered little hole that had supposedly once been a rentable flat. The little strength that had came back to his limbs after his "escorting" agents had stemmed their talisman's effects was just enough to turn himself over and catch the cloth sack that supposedly contained his meager belongings. The cane that had been brought along nearly collided with his head as it was thrown his way; his saving grace being another attempted revolt from his stomach causing him to curl as small as he could about the sack.

The smell that lingered in all areas of the building helped him none as the agents began to talk. They neared as they did so, looking smug and Hiei got the impression what they said was important to him and living in this place. The fire demon shut his eyes and gathered the concentration needed to use the jagan, in hope that somehow it would clear the fog just enough. But in the moment it seemed to work he recoiled as if he'd been kicked in the head. It _felt _as if he'd been kicked in the head yet neither agent moved and Hiei forced himself to abandon the attempt with the third eye.

Opening his eyes again he caught sight of the agents about to leave. He forced himself forward and grasped the cane on the floor. With a burst of what energy Hiei had the black haired male caught one agent in the gut with the smooth, polished wood. The other agent back handed him across the room with an arm that felt more like steel then flesh and bone. And the door shut behind the men.

It felt as if a talisman was still inside the empty rooms keeping the fog about. For a little while he didn't bother to move. He sat there trying to muddle his way to anything he could do to get himself out of his current predicament. Finally Hiei forced himself up and staggered to the door. When he could finally get it open, a startled man was on the other side. With a hold on either side of the door way to steady himself, he barely comprehended that the other stood there before the man was talking. Each syllable was like a needle through his skull. A needle that cleared what the worried man said but left his head aching. The man smiled and Hiei suddenly registered how he shook his hand vigorously, near to throwing him off balance and then left. The short demon staggered back and the other doubled back to shut his door. Hiei finally did retch in the entry way and stumbled back to drop heavily down next to the cloth sack. He was vaguely aware, as he slowly slipped unconscious, of no furry weight at his side, that vaguely the scent that was all across the level was familiar yet again and the notion, which made his stomach flop in the haze, that the worst….was probably starting.

~*~Sukuu~*~

Papers, papers and more papers were littered across his desk the same as any other day in his life. Though as Koenma looked at it, it didn't seem to be any bigger than what he had begun to get just two years ago. Maybe the fact that the piles were no longer heart attacking inducing on sight was a good sign. The piles at one time had been lessened to an extent while he had detectives on some things.

Koenma rubbed at his eyes, he was tired of papers. But what could he do? No detectives meant that things were now again dumped on the Reikai as whole. Or maybe, he though ruefully, more him than others. A sandal shod foot stepped into the room causing the Reikai Prince to looked up. He had to smile at Botan though he took note of the start of dark bags beneath her eyes yet again.

"Hello Botan." The Ferry Guide gave him a smile and walked up to the paper covered desk.

"Your desk is _covered_ again, sir," Botan shook her head at the sight. Koenma gave her a most exasperated quirk of the lips.

"Now Botan, shouldn't you be used to the sight by now?" She giggled softly.

"I suppose so." Koenma put down his stamp, brushed some papers out of the way and gave the woman his undivided attention.

"How have you been? It's been a while since you came to my office."

"It has been a few weeks, hasn't it?" Botan whispered, rubbing sheepishly at her arm through her kimono sleeve.

"Relax Botan; it's not as if you've been shirking your duties. How have they been?"

Botan relaxed. This was routine. Whenever she came back to the Reikai, they would have this conversation. Sometimes it was short, sometimes it took Koenma from his duties long enough to be noticed. The occurrence certainly never stopped them, often it seemed to encourage them when the stacks got too high, too…filled with things that reminded them both that time had passed.

"So?" He prompted her. He watched Botan's face light up and all thoughts of paperwork were pushed from his mind in favor of letting the Guide just speak.

"Keiko was happy to see me again. I thought she looked tired though. Probably throwing herself into her course work again, wh-what with the time of the year and all. But she had to tell me about all the things she's been doing in the last couple months. I think she's doing really, really well.

"I saw Shizuru for a little bit but… she didn't talk much, mostly let me. And I just was rambling! She really shouldn't have let me do that, I was there to see her…though maybe I haven't told them much about me lately so I may've had that coming, right?

"I saw Genkai for a brief moment… she looked…healthy..."Botan giggled embarrassed and Koenma had to smile. He beckoned her on.

"I had to look through a bit of the temple to find Yukina. She was outback and I really should have known that. I think I spent the longest with her. Keiko and Shizuru don't make it up to the temple all that often anymore. And Yukina… well it's hard for her to just meet them in the city. I think she's getting lonelier. There's a few song birds that have been coming to the temple, she's been feeding them." Botan stopped and looked at the ground.

"She' uh…sh-she asked me about her brother, just little guessing things…and then she brought up Hiei. I think she's hoping I…I could help." She fiddled with her fingers and then forced herself to lookup and unwaveringly at the Reikai Prince.

For a moment Koenma couldn't meet her eyes. Finally he swallowed harshly and forced himself to look at her.

"I wish I could help too…I really do. But the Reikai dropped Hiei like a …a sack of potatoes by the time they sent him overseas. I've been looking, I swear to you I have been." Botan gave him a wobbly smile.

"I…I guess that's all we can do."

~*~Ispirkimas~*~

He had decided that the building smelt heavily of some sort of fish. Sometimes the smell would make him sick to his stomach…most of the time he slept. There was a calendar in the kitchen….what would be the kitchen. Everything had a would-be use….He used the calendar to keep track of the days, how long he slept and how little he did. Hiei wasn't sure how he hadn't been kicked from the upstairs space. There must have been a reason but the visits from the people downstairs had waned and eventually ground to a near halt within a few short months. Yet again he had fallen asleep for hours…days….a week? He'd fallen asleep in what he assumed was the main area of the dwelling. The fire demon tilted his head to the side to see out the window…the sun was high in the sky. It was somewhere in the afternoon he had to assume.

The hazy feeling of the wards had never left. Finding the one that had been left in the apartment after his 'escorts' had left had been futile. The long exposure to them got to him …to where it left him hardly able to move. Waiting out the talisman was the smarter move then wasting energy to find and not even having the ability to destroy it when he did. But its power had never waned as he had expected it too. The flow of time was more obvious by the festivals he could hear from the streets below. A year and more had gone by. Hiei was positive that while he suffered from talisman induced slumber it had been exchanged as each grew weak. Thus his lethargy never left.

He had been left to rot here with talisman provided insurance.

Tatou nudged his chin. The little animal that had somehow managed to make her way to him. He wasn't sure how, wasn't even sure how he'd forgotten her very existence until she had nudged him awake weeks into his confinement. Now she suffered as he did, almost always curled tightly to his torso. They ate what was brought up to them, something he figured had been written right into his stay. Hiei took a deep breath and forced himself to his hands and knees. His cane had yet again been abandoned, if there was no energy to stand then there was no reason to have it nearby.

The black haired demon reached the window and rested against it. He watched the preparation below. Another festival was on its way. The last detective leaned his forehead against the cool window pane. He had slim hopes of not sleeping through this one. But it didn't matter. He already knew what one it was. It was the same one he'd seen when the people who lived and worked below him still stopped by, who had merrily explained it to him. He remembered it well now; it had been before sleep consumed his meager existence.

"Looks…looks like i-it's been two years now….." Slowly he slid down the wall from the window, murmuring to himself, "…this is a new level even for you…how pathetic…"

--

…I have no excuses for way this is so dang late. I can only tell why it is and why the next most likely will be:

1) I'm in college! & 2) Everything thing I've written since the start of September has been either for a class or a scholarship (which I need…) so I'm almost surprised I managed to finish this and get it edited.

Sadly this is a transitional chapter…we're going to hit the next arc of the story after this which I like to call Ragnarok. There are three arcs….the first of which is now finished. Thus ends the Descent to Madness portion. Hopefully I'll be back soon!


End file.
